San Francisco Botanical GardenStop on Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, a free self-guided tour.The San Francisco Botanical Garden is a 55-acre living museum housing over 9,000 plant species from around the world - one of the most diverse botanical collections in the Western United States. The garden specializes in plants from Mediterranean climates and cloud forests, allowing specimens to thrive outdoors in San Francisco's mild, foggy conditions that would require greenhouse protection almost anywhere else. Highlights include the Ancient Plant Garden featuring cycads and ferns unchanged since the dinosaur era, a stunning New World Cloud Forest, a Redwood Grove, a South African garden, and a fragrance garden designed for visitors with visual impairments. The garden is particularly beautiful in early spring when the magnolia collection - one of the finest in North America - is in full bloom. Free for San Francisco residents with ID; admission fees for others.Stops on this tourMcLaren Lodge and Sharon MeadowConservatory of FlowersRhododendron DellMusic Concourse and Spreckels Temple of Musicde Young MuseumCalifornia Academy of SciencesJapanese Tea GardenSan Francisco Botanical GardenStow Lake and Strawberry HillSpreckels Lake and Model Yacht ClubPolo Fields and Speedway MeadowBuffalo Paddock - American Bison HerdRainbow Falls and Chain of LakesDutch Windmill and Queen Wilhelmina Tulip GardenOcean Beach - Western Gateway