Gardens
at Fairyland
A Garden Oasis
Local nursery owner and visionary Fairyland founder Arthur Navlet originally designed the gardens at Children’s Fairyland to bring the flora of favorite childhood stories to life. The gardens at Fairyland are sponsored in part by Dr. Earth, Inc.
Fairyland’s Gardens
We use bay-friendly and integrated-pest-management gardening principles to keep our plants happy and healthy and to protect Lake Merritt. Vegetables from our organic garden feed our animals (and occasionally the staff).
There are also several rare plants dotting our landscape. The deciduous Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), once thought to be extinct, is now growing strong near the Emerald City Stage.
Under the Dragon Slide, you’ll find Fairyland’s greenhouse, where many of our plants are propagated. If you’d like to take home a living memento of your visit, we have plants for sale in the plaza by our gift shop. The “Fairy Wand” plant is one of our favorites — can you spot it?
Garden clubs often visit to ask about our themed plantings. Feel free to do the same!