5 Southern California arboretums and gardens lighting up for the holidays
The South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes Estates isn’t reaching for the stars for its upcoming winter light show. Instead it’s bringing the stars down for a visit to illuminate the park with its “Astra Lumina” celestial experience.
“It immerses the audience in nature, in light, in music. Everything is synchronized. It’s an emotional journey and it tells a story.” said Thomas Pintal, the multimedia director at Moment Factory, creators of the walk-through installation which runs from Nov. 9-Jan.1 at the Palos Verdes Garden.
This is the second year the Garden has hosted “Astra Lumina.” The multimedia installation replaced the venue’s previous GLOW experience, which took people through the ocean, rivers and forests, with a trip through the cosmos instead.
But the Palos Verdes park isn’t the only garden that’s lighting things up this winter.
There are several other gardens and arboretums across Southern California for people to take in immersive light shows starting in November and December, including the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden’s “Lightscape,” a one mile walk-through made up of several light installations that are coupled with music and special effects that transform part of the 127-acre property into an illuminated garden. Expect to see displays like the Winter Cathedral, a light tunnel shaped like arched windows that’s made up of more than 100,000 small white LED globes and a stunning Arch of Light display.
In La Cañada Flintridge, Descanso Gardens turns a portion of its venue into the “Enchanted Forest of Light.” This is where people will see luminated “stained glass” creations on the Main Lawn, geometric installations in the Rose Garden, Flower Power on the Promenade and more.
Meanwhile, music and lights mix at “Luminaria Nights” at California Botanic Garden in Claremont. This is where luminaria and string lights like the way along paths of native plant gardens, art installation and musical venues. Each night of the event includes at least three live performances.
Some gardens, like Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar, really get into the holiday spirit with their annual light display “Night of 1000 Lights.” For two weeks in December, guests can walk through this Orange County garden that has a Candyland theme this year. Expect stroll through a Rainbow Trail, into the Lollypop Woods, the Gumdrop Mountains and the Peppermint Stick Forest.
And back at the South Coast Botanic Garden, guests will get to see the stars up close.
“It’s based on a very simple storyline which says ‘What if the stars could reach for us?,” Pintal said. “So we have imagined a poetic story that there are some stars in the cosmos traveling and they see our beautiful blue planet and they come and fall just slowly into that beautiful garden just to rest, sleep and regenerate and then they fly back into the sky.”
“Astra Lumina” uses original music and choreographed projections to set a celestial mood along the Garden’s pathways to give patrons the experience of falling and rising stars making themselves at home here on earth. Along the pathway people will go through nine zones starting with the “Astra Archway,” which Pintal said is the symbolic portal to the stars.
“It has beautiful curves, there’s smoke, music, you can hear sounds coming from somewhere out there,” he said. “It’s a threshold through smoke and light and sound.”
From there, guests will see a garden filled with translucent lanterns, a light show that makes it appear as if the stars are falling from the sky and then a display of thousands of rays of lights dubbed “Stardust Rays,” which is meant to overwhelm the senses, in a good, way of course.
“You lose a sense of space, you lose a sense of what’s where and it’s probably the most immersive installation we have here,” he said.
After walking through several other zones, the journey ends with “Rise of the Stars.”
“The big finale is this moment when the stars fly back into the cosmos,” Pintal said.
“Astra Lumina”
When: 5:30-10 p.m. Nov. 9-Jan. 1
Where: South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Blvd, Palos Verdes Estates
Tickets: Starting at $28-$38 at astralumina.com
“Lightscape”
When: 5:30 p.m. nightly Nov. 17-Jan. 2
Where: The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is at 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia
Tickets: $14-$18 for children, $29-$35 for adults, at arboretum.org
“Enchanted Forest of Light”
When: 5:30-10 p.m. Nov. 19-Jan. 7 (Closed Nov. 23, Dec. 24-25)
Where: Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge
Tickets: $25-$30 for children, $35–45 for adults at descansogardens.org
“Luminaria Nights”
When: 6- 9 p.m. Dec. 9-10, 15-16
Where: California Botanic Garden, 500 N. College Avenue, Claremont
Tickets: $15 for students; $20 adults at calbg.org
“Night of 1000 Lights”
When: 6-9 p.m. Dec. December 9- 22 (closed Dec. 12-13)
Where: Sherman Library & Gardens, 2647 East Coast Highway, Corona del Mar
Tickets: $35 for general admission; $25 for members at thesherman.org