I've been to all the botanic gardens mentioned so far, and would recommend UC Davis as having parts that feature nice displays of perennials that are more adapted to California drought conditions, but most of the gardens are mostly larger growing trees and shrubs. UC Berkeley Botanic Garden is fantastic and well maintained, and has the most complete native plants section in the area, and African hill is great this time of year with lots of aloes and South African bulbs in bloom. Tilden Botanic Garden is also in Berkeley, and well worth a visit for the natives from around the state. The Ruth Bancroft Garden is also a fantastic one of a kind botanic garden, well worth a visit. Over in San Francisco, all of Golden Gate Park is special, with the San Francisco Botanic Garden, the Conservatory, the Japanese Tea Gardens and the museums all worth a visit. There is also a special retail nursery called Flora Grubb, in the Bayview District that is a must see for what fun an urban California retail nursery can be, they even have a great coffee bar on the premises, as well as a book store. If you are looking to see more natural sorts of places while visiting, Mount Tamalpais State Park, Muir Woods State Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, the Presidio are all worth a visit. If you are willing to head a bit further south, the Filoli Gardens are beautiful in a more formal way, as representative of an estate garden style, and heading on down to Santa Cruz area, the South African collection of proteas will be in spectacular full bloom at the UC Santa Cruz Botanic Garden. Continuing the drive down to Carmel/Monterey, and a visit to Point Lobos State Park or doing the 17 mile drive on the Monterey Peninsula or on down to have lunch or dinner at Nepenthe Restaurant on the Big Sur coast can be wonderful as well. It will be a lot of driving, and allow enough time to get between spots, or simply concentrate on one area, and come back for another visit again...

I second the Muir Woods suggestion; it's relatively close to SF and there are finally some decent places to eat in Larkspur, Tiburon and San Rafael. If you must eat Chinese food in SF, you are better off eating in the Richmond or Sunset neighborhoods, where enormous #s of Asians live (we did, for 17 yrs before moving across to the East Bay). For dim sum, Koi Palace in Daly City or Hong Kong Flower Lounge in San Mateo are cheaper and almost as good as the iconic Yank Sing, which has two locations, both OUTSIDE Chinatown: 101 Spear St. (Embarcadero) and 49 Stevenson (alley in the Financial District). Whatever you do or wherever you stay, try NOT to drive downtown! Take public transit instead. Parking is impossibly difficult; meters are now graduated rates according to time of day and accessibility. San Francisco is the pilot program for the Dept. of Transportation's new program to discourage urban drivers. Meter rates can vary from 50 cents to as high as $10/hr for the same parking space, depending on computerized availability during day and evening. Frankly, the best food in SF can be found in the smaller new bistros, such as Rich Table, State Bird Provisions, Quince/Cotogna, Benu, etc. Although if I were dining with an out-of-town foodie, I would pick Aziza, whose fusion cuisine has wandered far from its original Moroccan roots without disdaining them. Mourad Lahlou and his pastry chef Melissa Chou are both utterly brilliant, creative, and inspired. No other restaurant in Northern CA does the kind of cuisine Lahlou does. It is literally one-of-a-kind" -- never less than very good, and much of it 5-star greatness. Monterey/Carmel is a great area but there are not a lot of big public gardens. Carmel-by-the-sea has lovely courtyard gardens of beautiful container plantings hidden between buildings - check out the back courtyard of Anton & Michel's restaurant (but don't eat there, it's awful) for one of the prettiest, complete with splashing pool. Starting May 1st (tourist season officially begins) is the small-scale Secret Gardens of Old Monterey, which I linked below. Do try to reserve a tour at Tor House in Carmel, too - the little English garden is quite pretty, the setting absolutely superb, looking out over the Pacific. Website is http://www.torhouse.org/. Most people do the 17 mile drive, but don't realize that there's a coastal trail you can walk (weekdays are much less crowded than weekends!) leading to and from Asilomar State Beach, in Pacific Grove. You can actually start at the Monterey Bay Aquarium but I always find it very crowded with both tourists and locals. Almost everybody drops away after Lover's Point, where it's a level stretch to Asilomar Beach, walking along the Pacific's edge - absolutely gorgeous on a nice day! Here is a link that might be useful: May 1st: Secret Gardens of Monterey

jkom, those pictures are very pretty. I love the Agave area. I've never been to CA so these pictures are quite educational for me. Thanks, MeMo

The plant without a label looks like Camassia. ?