The Natural History Museum in Balboa Park has always attracted people of all ages to the interesting exhibits inside. Now it is offering a glimpse of San Diego’s plant life to visitors directly outside its walls too.
The new Nature Trail is now open. Remember seeing the green fence all the way around the museum for the last several months? Behind the scenes, garden designers and landscapers were planting native and water-conserving plants representing both San Diego County and Baja California.
On May 24, a rather chilly day, my husband and I went to check out the 528-foot trail, which is actually an ADA-accessible sidewalk meandering around the museum. We started in the front and went up the steps. From the top, we got a good look at the Prado filled with trees and heard the sound of happy chatter along with the gushing waters of the Bea Evenson Fountain.
After descending the steps, we headed east on the Nature Trail. We saw all sorts of flowers such as California Yarrow, California Poppies, and Yellow Bells. Along the trail are also planted Ocotillo trees, their bright red lipstick-shaped blooms shooting out. As we sauntered around toward the front of the museum, we sat down for a spell in the boulder garden so that we could watch the people walk by and some crows nosing around.
Not a lot of songbirds are yet visiting the Nature Trail. But in a couple of months when the plants start shooting up higher, expect to see songbirds such as Lesser Goldfinches, Western Bluebirds, and California Towhees along with dazzling Anna’s and Allen’s Hummingbirds. Western Honeybees are already actively flitting from flower to flower in the garden, possibly from the hive that makes its home in the museum basement. Butterflies such as Mourning Cloak and Monarch will soon add movement to the garden. The waist-high green mesh now protecting the plants will come down in August, revealing the flowers and wildlife in their full glory.
As we sat in the boulder garden, the wind came up stronger and we needed to start walking again to get warmer. There was no question to our destination: The Moreton Bay Fig tree, the beloved natural landmark of Balboa Park. Planted in 1916 for the Panama Exposition, this crowning glory reaches nearly 100 feet in height with a width also more than 100 feet. An attractive fence encircles the tree to protect it from people wanting to explore its branches and massive trunk. A small wooden walkway with Small buildouts give people a chance to view the tree up closer. We could even see the fruit beginning to bud within some flowers. The figs are not edible for human consumption, by the way.
Though the Moreton Bay Fig tree is not a native plant of southern California, it is a majestic example of the diversity of plants that thrive in our unique climate and excellent growing environment.
When we finished admiring and taking photographs of the tree, we continued around the trail to the First People’s Garden. This area features plants used by the Kumeyaay for treatment of wounds and illness; other plants are used for food, fiber and teas. More of this kind of information can be found within the NAT as well as the Barona Cultural Museum in Barona. Students from Barona helped select the plants in this area.
Along the remainder of the trail are many flowering plants that need little water while providing great beauty and attracting pollinators. Some of these plants can even be grown in containers.
As the Natural History Museum notes in the Nature Trail as well as exhibits inside the museum, we San Diegans are planted in a special corner of the world. San Diego and the Baja California Peninsula are home to thousands of unique species, all closely intertwined. Native plants are the foundation of our ecosystem shared with Baja. The plants save water, support wildlife, and make our communities healthier places to live. Where there is good health within an ecosystem, there is also great beauty.
The Nature Trail does indeed introduce locals and visitors to many of the native plants that make this America’s Finest City so full of life. It is a cornerstone of the 150th anniversary of the NAT and intends to connect locals and visitors to wildlife specific to the San Diego region. The Nature Trail is a free amenity for all Balboa Park visitors, serving as the NAT’s gift to the community. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for everyone’s enjoyment and observation.
The project has been made possible through private philanthropy and partnerships with the City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department, Spurlock Landscape Architects, as well as plant and garden advisors throughout the region.
Inside the museum’s walls, another new exhibit, the Action from the Archives, features photographs and objects of all the conservation successes in which the museum has been a leader over the past century and a half. Fun fact from the exhibit: In order to study the Bark Beetles threatening the region’s unique Torrey Pines, Calif. state park scientists donated more than two million Bark Beetle specimens to the museum in 2023.
