Horticulturists at the San Diego Zoo are gearing up for the 21st annual spring garden festival this weekend, with guided tours of the zoo’s extensive collection, displays and educational activities.

Mike Letzring, horticulture collections manager at the San Diego Zoo, inspects a rare Encyclia citrina, more commonly known as the tulip orchid, at the Zoo’s Orchid House. Photo by by Ken Bohn, San Diego Zoo
Mike Letzring, horticulture collections manager at the San Diego Zoo, inspects a rare Encyclia citrina, more commonly known as the tulip orchid, at the Zoo’s Orchid House. Photo by Ken Bohn, San Diego Zoo

With more than 700,000 plants and over 900 different types of orchids alone, the zoo’s accredited botanical collection gets some much-deserved attention during the two-day festival taking place Mother’s Day weekend, Saturday, May 10, and Sunday, May 11.

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” is the theme for this year’s garden festival. Activities include self-guided walking tours, a scavenger hunt featuring plants with animal names, craft activities for children, animal presentations, a flora-themed Dr. Zoolittle show, and a chance to meet zoo horticulturists, insect keepers, and researchers from the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research working to save plant species around the world and in our own backyards.

Display booths, open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, will offer gardening tips from zoo experts on pruning techniques, container gardening, growing bamboo and making a home garden more beautiful and bountiful. More booths will highlight the difference between soil and dirt, odd and curious plants and botanical wonders.

The garden festival, presented by Sparkletts,  is included with admission and membership. For more information and a schedule of activities, visit the zoo’s website.

— From a San Diego Zoo press release

Chris Jennewein is founder and senior editor of Times of San Diego.