Point Loma Native Plant Garden

As the reviewer before me noted, it is a little hard to find. You can enter by walking through Collier Park, but there are also entrances on Mendocino and the next block over. Visiting in the dead of winter, after a long drought period AND El Nino flooding, it was looking a little desolate. With that said, the trails are well kept and overall it is a charming quiet space to walk around. Dogs are welcome on leases. You could walk quickly around in about 10 minutes or slowly mosey around looking at the marked plants and reading the info signs in 20+ minutes. When I visited there was the usual group of about 8 or so young OBecians hanging around as well as a woman walking her dog and a father with his son.
Worth checking out if you’re in the area!

nice volunteer effort to make this place a nice walk. its always well maintained

Hidden away in a corner of Ocean Beach is the Point Loma Native Plant Garden-​a garden dedicated to San Diego’s native ecology. The Garden is a part of the City of San Diego’s Collier Park West, but is under the umbrella of the San Diego River Park Foundation.
In the 1980’s, the California Native Plant Society, Point Loma Garden Club and many community members got together and set aside a portion of Collier Park to grow specifically-​native plants and trees.
This became known eventually as the Point Loma Native Plant Garden.
It is a little tricky to find it. I walked through Collier Park and found one entrance; there are 2 others around the vicinity. But find it you should since the Park is a haven of acres of various sage plants, manzanita bushes, wild lilac, toyon, honeysuckle, torrey pines, and other cacti and succulent plants from the region. There are clearly marked trails-​with rocks aligning the path-​that will lead you through the hilly areas overlooking Nimitz Blvd., and Correia Junior High-​across the way. Many rare and endangered plants are featured and it is a good idea to visit if you are planning some landscaping projects and you want to go low-​water or native-​only.
I was there one afternoon recently and it was very quiet. It’s a perfect spot to just go and enjoy nature-​a good meditation place indeed. Benches are conveniently placed throughout for that purpose. On the weekends, there are organized volunteer work parties that maintain the grounds. But it is very peaceful there-​despite the whirl of nearby traffic. The Point Loma Native Plant Garden is proof that you can beautifully landscape your home garden and do it with the proper plants that will be both environmentally-​sustainable and drought-​tolerant.