Blake Garden
Blake Garden occupies 10+ acres of rolling terrain in Kensington, featuring large rock outcroppings, several reaches of Cerrito Creek, and sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay. You’ll encounter a range of landscapes here, including a formal garden with a reflecting pool, a shady canyon with towering redwoods, and a California native wetland zone populated by Pacific Chorus frogs.
In 1957, the Blakes donated the property to UC Berkeley as a resource for experiential learning for landscape architecture students. Blake Garden continues to serve as an outdoor teaching and research laboratory for the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning.
In the garden, you’ll find numerous projects designed and built by Berkeley faculty, staff, and students, from bee habitats to mosaic benches. Other highlights include a pergola by landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, the Square Garden with stunning flowering magnolias, and a native pollinator garden.
Hours + Visitor Information
Location
70 Rincon Road, Kensington CA
Visitors welcome and free parking is available.
Blake Garden sits on the territory of xučyun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people.
Hours
Monday–Friday: 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Saturday + Sunday: Closed
Phone: 510.590.0544
Holidays and Closures
- Memorial Day, Monday, May 27
- Juneteenth, Wednesday, June 19
- Independence Day, Thursday, July 4
- Labor Day, Monday, September 2
- Veterans Day, Monday, November 11
- Thanksgiving Holiday, Thursday November 28 & Friday, November 29
- Winter Holiday, Tuesday, December 24 & Wednesday, December 25
- New Year's Eve and Day, Tuesday, December 31 & Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Due to weather and administrative days, Blake Garden may be subject to closure on short notice. Follow us on Instagram for the most updated information.
Tours
Tours are offered the second Thursday of every month, 2 p.m.–3.p.m. and are free and open to the public. Registration is recommended, please email Blake Garden to register.
About Blake Garden
UC Berkeley alums Anson Blake, Anita (Symmes) Blake, and Mabel Symmes moved to this rugged hillside site in 1922 and transformed the property into extensive gardens surrounding their residence. Anita, along with her sister Mabel — one of the first students to enroll in UC Berkeley’s landscape architecture program after its founding in 1913 — created the initial garden plan and established the major plantings.
- Accessibility, Tours, and Visitor Info
- Education
- Volunteer Opportunities
- Contact Us
- Donation by check
Accessibility
Blake Garden is built in the Kensington hills. There are steep slopes throughout the garden. Parts of the garden are accessible by wheelchair. Please email Blake Garden staff for more information.
Restrooms
Restrooms are located at the greenhouse.
Tours
Tours are available upon request for groups of 10 and more. Please contact Blake Garden staff for more information.
Dogs
Well behaved dogs on leash are welcome in the garden. Owners must clean up after their pets.
Trash
Please pack out and take all trash with you.
Children
Children are welcome! We ask parents and children to stay on the paths, not to throw anything into the pools, no picking of plants, flowers or fruits, no tree and rock climbing. There are several parks nearby with play structures. There are steep slopes in the garden, some with stairs but baby carriages can be used with caution.
Maps
Trail maps are available at Blake Garden.
Virtual Tour with Nearcube
Nearcube provides visitors with a virtual and detailed garden map. Visitors can download and use Nearcube for virtual tour, gaining a deeper understanding of the garden’s themed section and history, in a fun and engaging way. It can also assist with trip planning and finding features such as benches, restrooms, and parking.
Blake Garden is a site for experiential learning for classes in landscape design, plant identification, environmental planning, painting and drawing, and photography, to name a few. As well as being a resource for the college, it serves various area colleges and schools, organizations and groups, and the community at large.
Blake offers work-study opportunities to UC Berkeley Students:
Projects may include:
- Invasive species identification and control
- Planting and transplanting
- Propagating plant material
- Pruning trees and shrubs
- Wall, path, and seating construction
- Garden bed restoration
- Composting and developing soil health
- Integrated pest management
- Water management
Blake Garden provides a wonderful opportunity to learn about plants while making a valuable contribution to the welfare of the garden. You can work in a beautiful environment and get to know people who are knowledgeable and passionate about the garden, its plants, and horticulture.
Phone + Address:
510.590.0544
Blake Garden
70 Rincon Road
Kensington, CA 94707
Mail:
Blake Garden
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
202 Wurster Hall, #2000
Berkeley, CA 94720-2000
If you would like to send a check, please make funds payable to:
UC Berkeley Foundation
Mail to:
University of California Berkeley,
Donor and Gift Services,
1995 University Avenue, Ste 400,
Berkeley, CA 94704-1070
Memo: Blake Gardens Fund #FN7561
Staff
The garden’s development began in the early 1920s. Mr. and Mrs. Anson Blake, of Berkeley, sought a new site for their home to make way for the university’s proposed football stadium to be built at the entrance to Strawberry Canyon. Although the site had previously been purchased as a potential quarry, they realized that its true value was in its richly varied terrain, unusual rock outcrops, and the spectacular views of San Francisco and the Bay Area.
The garden was important from the beginning. So much so that when the house was designed, the Blakes impressed on the architect, Walter Bliss, that it be sited to take advantage of the views and shelter a portion of the garden from western marine exposure. Groves of laurel, coast redwood, canary island pine, acacia, and lacebark were planted in exposed areas throughout the garden using this approach.
The property, originally 22 acres, was designed to incorporate two homes, one for each of the brothers, Anson and Edwin Blake. Mabel Symmes, one of the first students enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, and her sister, Anita Blake, created the first garden plan.
Symmes and Blake created a progression of spaces by dividing the site into separate areas that reflected the varied topography and microclimates in the garden, linking them informally. Thus, the visitor could experience the garden’s diversity and unique terrain in an intimate and logical way.
The garden is half its original size today. With Edwin’s death in the mid 1950s, the 22 acre property was divided into two parcels. The Anson Blakes retained 10.5 acres around their house. Edwin’s house retained a two acre parcel, leaving the remaining land to be divided into small housing lots. Eventually, Edwin’s house was donated to the Roman Catholic Church, which established a Carmelite Monastery on the site.
In 1957 Mr. and Mrs. Blake deeded their house and garden to the University of California, “reserving unto themselves and the survivor of them the right to occupy the property for life.” With the death of Mr. Blake in 1959 and Mrs. Blake in 1962, the house and garden passed to the University. The decision was made in 1967 that the house would be used as the official residence of the President of the University of California. The garden’s management was given to UC Berkeley’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning as a resource for its programs.
The garden has been used as an outdoor laboratory for plant identification, planting design, the study of problems in spatial relationships, and other studies in landscape architecture and environmental design since the 1960s. Under the guidance of succeeding directors, such projects as surveying, mapping, and photographing the site, as well as cataloging plants, have been undertaken.
Blake Garden continues to serve as an important resource for students studying plant identification and garden design. It is valued for its substantial collection of over 1,200 species of established plant material. Blake Garden offers visitor access and volunteer programs for the general public, as well as work-study programs and internships through the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design.
The Blake Estate Oral History Project was produced by the Bancroft Library & the Regional Oral History Office with interviews conducted by Suzanne B. Riess in 1986 through 1987.
The Blake Estate Virtual Collection, created by the College of Environmental Design Archives includes a number of historic images and maps of Blake Garden. It also includes a collection of photographs, documents, surveys and site plans, and landscape architecture students design projects documenting the gardent, and the estate’s history as the private residence of Anson S. and Anita Blake and later as a teaching resource owned and managed by the University of California, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental.
The El Cerrito Historical Society has an article that discusses Anson Blake’s quarrying activities in El Cerrito: El Cerrito Quarry History.