My sister-in-law was in town and my husband and I thought she might enjoy a trip to the Getty Center as she hadn't been there in well over a decade. As a matter of fact, I haven't been there in over seven years, which is remarkable as it isn't all that far away.
![]() |
| This colorful display greeted us as soon as we walked into the visitor center after the tram ride up from the parking area |
The Center contains the Getty Museum, a wide variety of art exhibits changed out regularly, and wonderful gardens. Admission is free but parking isn't; however, that cost is nominal. I've visited several times since its Central Garden opened in 1997 but I think this is the first time I've been there this late in the year. We checked out exhibits on photographer Arthur Tress and printmaker, painter and poet William Blake but my focus was of course the Central Garden. I'll cover the upper level of that garden in this post and will follow up with an overview of the lower level of the Central Garden, as well as the Cactus Garden, on Friday.
![]() |
| This is an overhead view of the upper section of the Central Garden from the main plaza level. Navigating the multiple levels of Getty Center is an challenge in itself as you can see in this map. |
The Central Garden is 134,000 square feet in size and was designed by an artist,
Robert Irwin.
![]() |
| Irwin memorialized the garden with the statement shown here embedded in concrete |
As Irwin said, the garden is every-changing. New plants are constantly introduced while others are traded out; however, the basic structure of the garden with its switchback and winding paths remains the same. The garden was less flowerful at this time of year, yet still packed with vibrant color.
![]() |
| The main sections of the garden are framed by foliage plants. On the upper level these include deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens), silver carpet groundcover (Dymondia margaretae), what I think is lilyturf (Liriope), and London planetrees (Plantanus x acerifolia). |
![]() |
| A ravine filled with rocks to slow the movement of water runs through the center of what is officially called the Stream Garden |
![]() |
| A pedestrian pathway zig-zags back and forth to opposite sides of the stream as you pass along its length to the bottom. The passage is interrupted by bridges here and there. |
![]() |
| By slowing their progress, the path invites visitors to take a closer look at the plant combinations on either side |
![]() |
| What I think is a colorful Croton accompanied by a groundcover I recognize but can't name offhand |
![]() |
| I can't identify the plant with the red foliage at the center or this photo but it could be some kind of bromeliad like the plants in front of it. In addition to succulents, there looks to be a Persicaria in the mix. |
![]() |
| This is a vignette I wish I'd studied more closely while onsite. My best guesses are that the reddish shrub is a Coprosma repens; the fern-like green leaves are Geranium maderense; the succulent is one of the red-toned Aeonium arboreum; and the groundover is Muehlenbeckia axillaris. |
![]() |
| Russelia equisetiformis, Cordyline, and Aeoniums make an understated but attractive combination. Aeonium nobile (shown in closeup on the right) was part of the mix. |
![]() |
| I noticed a lot of Mangaves like the one in the middle foreground here |
At the bottom of the ravine are the Bougainvillea "umbrellas" (or trees) the garden is well known for.
![]() |
| The vines are encased within "trunks" made of rebar with their bracts allowed to tumble from the top |
As you may have guessed, I was a little frustrated that I couldn't definitively identify many of the plants. There are no labels but then adding those would muddy the effect - this is less a botanic garden and more a work of art created using plants. On one of my earlier visits to the Getty, I purchased a book that provided individual plant identifications from the Center's gift shop. Its publication date is 2003 and, as the plants are always changing, it's out-of-date. However, a map included in the book provides a good sense of the overall flow of the Central Garden as shown below.
![]() |
| Source: Plants in the Getty's Central Garden by Jim Duggan with garden photographs by Becky Cohen, Getty Publications, 2003 |
This post covered my visit to the upper, Stream Garden garden, the section shown in the map crisscrossed by the zig-zag pathway. That garden is heavily dependent on foliage plants of various kinds. I'll cover the the sunnier Bowl Garden, shown within the large circle in the lower section of the map, on Friday.
All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
