Rancho Los Cerritos, Long
Beach, California Flower Gardens
Rancho Los Cerritos
Historic Site 4600 Virginia Road Long Beach, California 90807 Phone: (562)
570-1755
Rancho Los Cerritos, an historic
ranch-home and grounds in the upscale Long Beach, California Virginia
Country Club Estates, is an adobe house built in 1844. Open to the public,
the grounds of this historic property includes a variety of flowers, trees,
plants and butterflies to entertain and educate visitors seeking an
enjoyable stroll or tour.
While many of the California flower
gardens and botanical gardens require moderate physical effort to view, this
facility provides flat sidewalks with easy access for those seeking a
pleasurable experience that's not too strenuous.
The gardens include a
variety of flowers that grow naturally in Southern California. Daisies,
sweet peas and many other flowers provide gracious landscaping to this
restored rancho with unique green, wood trim accents. To the south of the
ranch house is a subtropical orchard with avocado, citrus, macadamia nut,
loquat, sapote and cherimoya trees, surrounded by a hedge of lemon and
strawberry guavas. Products from their bounty include jams and seeds, often
available in the Museum Gift Shop.
While the gardens have changed during the
150+-year span of this rancho, formal gardens initially reflected the
colonial garden style popular on the East Coast. There was a main path
leading from the central door to a focal point, a Moorish summerhouse, with
secondary pathways providing access to a dozen raised beds filled with
flowering shrubs, perennials, fruit trees and grape vines. Five Italian
cypress trees provided vertical accents and, in time, became landmarks for
travelers. A perimeter planting of black locust trees added seasonal
interest.
First planted by John
Temple during the 1840s and '50s, museum archives include letters from him
to a relative in Massachusetts, requesting black locust, peach and plum
seeds. This "Temple" garden was cared for by Native Americans, who watered
the thirsty flowers by hauling buckets of water from a river. Southern
California in its natural state appears as a semi-desert landscape.
When Jotham and Margaret Bixby acquired
the rancho in 1866, they installed a windmill and water tower to restore the
declining trees and flowers nearly destroyed by drought. There's one
surviving set of Australian Moreton Bay Fig trees that have grown together,
dominating the landscape as guests stand on the shaded second story porch of
the rancho and look to the back of the property.
Beginning in 1890
boarders rented rooms at the rancho, planting crops and allowing chickens
and pigs to wander and ravage the gardens. This degradation lasted for 40
years or so. Llewellyn and Avis Bixby took charge of the adobe in 1930,
infusing cash to remodel the house and redesign the gardens and grounds.
They hired landscape architect Ralph Cornell and charged him with the task
of integrating existing trees and the old water tower into a new plan.
Re-introducing vegetation planted in Temple's garden, a lawn was planted and
a central pathway gently curved around one of Temple's cypress trees!
With the advent of the automobile, entryways for horses and carriages were
no longer needed, thus providing additional space for gardens. Cornell
planted an inner courtyard for the first time with trees and flowering
plants. A small pond with a bronze toad presiding over the water lilies
served as the focal point for this inner sanctum. Today guests can wander
the grounds and enjoy the towering trees and expansive lawns designed over
80 years ago. Be sure to tour the rancho to enjoy additional views of
the gardens from the perspective of the owners of the property who created a
legacy for Southern California city-dwellers who today, live with the least
amount of green space per capita of practically any location in the U.S.
