Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Now Blooming: Puyas
Event
Past eventFri., March 27, 2026–Fri., May 15, 2026
Dates are approximate | Free with general admission
Desert Garden
Past eventFri., March 27, 2026–Fri., May 15, 2026
Dates are approximate | Free with general admission
Desert Garden
Puya are drought-resistant, mainly South American terrestrial bromeliads (Bromeliaceae) that love arid sun. The Huntington has the best collection of these enigmatic plants anywhere in the country. So, unless you’re trekking through the Andes in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, or Ecuador, you won’t have a chance to see rare and arresting bromeliads—such as Puya alpestris and Puya chilensis—shoot spectacular, long-arching inflorescence blooms of blue-green, chartreuse, violet, red, and yellow three to five feet into the sky during their annual springtime bloom.
A 2018 tour of Puya in the Desert Garden with The Huntington’s curator of the desert collections, John Trager, turned this writer from a Puya Ignoramus to a Puya Enthusiast.
One of the largest outdoor collections of cacti and succulents in the world, the Desert Garden includes more than 5,000 species of desert plants in sixty landscaped beds.
