Descanso Gardens

The famous Descanso Gardens tulips — 35,000 of them — have been planted

Well, we do mean the bulbs, of course; the first flower should bloom near the end of February.

Descanso Gardens

What to Know

  • Descanso Gardens
  • 1418 Descanso Drive in La Cañada Flintridge
  • Staff members and volunteers plant thousands of tulip bulbs each January in the Promenade area, just inside the gate
  • The garden reported that 35,000 bulbs were planted during the third week of January 2025
  • Peak bloom usually arrives around the second to third week of March, with the first flowers popping in late February
  • Garden admission is required

While "flowers" and "January" don't often appear in the same sentence together, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, you can find floral splendor around Southern California, even on the coldest days.

And if you want to talk future flowers during the first month of the year, you're probably going to reference Descanso Gardens.

The La Cañada Flintridge-based garden observes a January tradition, one that will come to fruition — or "flower-ition," if you prefer — in the later part of March: The planting of thousands of tulip bulbs.

Make that "thousands and thousands": Staff members and volunteers have planted around 30,000 bulbs in years gone by, but that number increased in 2025.

Some 35,000 tulips-to-be went into the rich garden soil over the third week of January, just days ahead of a much-anticipated rainstorm sweeping into the area.

"Tulips are weather-dependent" is the word on a Descanso Gardens social post, and these are good words to heed. Still, if you want to keep track of how the tulips are doing, the destination shared a "Tulip Timeline" of what you can expect, bloom-wise.

The biggest event — the peak bloom, when the majority of blossoming tulips are in top form — usually occurs around the second or third week of March.

But spying the very first tulip of the season is something of a parlor game for visitors and staff members alike. The season's first trailblazing tulip typically pops around the third week of February, give or take a few days.

This first flower is hard to miss: It's a splash of color among the green stems, something quite exciting to behold.

And speaking of splashes of color: The tulips run the rainbow, so count on admiring purples, pinks, yellows, and flowers that are almost ombre.

The annual tulip-tacular takes place in the pretty Promenade section of the garden, which is just a short stroll from the entrance; admission is required.

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