Youth and Adult Docent-Led Tours
The UC Botanical Garden offers docent-led tours for youth and adults. A guided tour provides a deeper experience at the Garden and is a wonderful and educational way to experience our collection. Please read on below for more information about our tour offerings and topics.
If you would like a docent-led tour, you must submit a request by the 15th of the month prior to your desired tour date. For example, if you would like a tour in May, you must submit a request by April 15th. Thank you for your understanding!
To submit a request for a docent-led tour, please fill out the Request Form below:
Please note that we do not schedule groups on Tuesdays or Weekends.
Your tour is not confirmed until you receive a confirmation email from gardentours@berkeley.edu.
| Youth (4-17) | $8 |
| Chaperones and Teachers for Youth Groups | Free |
| Adult | $20 |
| Senior (65+) | $17 |
| College Student (non-UC) | $17 |
| UC Berkeley or UC Affiliate Groups* | Free |
| *$100 donation for UC Groups is appreciated |
If cost is a barrier for your group, please contact gardentours@berkeley.edu. We do consider requests for free or reduced-rate admission on a case-by case basis.
All tour fees include Garden admission. There is a $100 minimum to schedule a group tour.
Groups may enjoy a picnic lunch in the Garden with prior approval.
Tours are given rain or shine. Come prepared for the weather. The Garden is located in a canyon with a variety of elevations and terrain, including paved paths and unpaved gravel paths. We can plan tour routes to accommodate the mobility needs of tour participants. Please email gardentours@berkeley.edu for questions about accommodations for your group.
Youth tours require sufficient adult chaperones to ensure students are supervised by an adult at all times. Adult chaperones are provided free admission for docent-led tours. We require the following ratios for number of adult chaperones to students. Ideally, groups will also have one “floater” adult in addition to the minimum ratio:
- (1) adult per (4) pre-K students
- (1) adult per (5) K-3rd Grade students
- (1) adult per (6) 4th-8th Grade students
- (1) adult per (8) High School students
Tour Topics and Offerings
Plants of the World
Explore the Garden’s incredible diversity of plants from six continents, including environments as diverse as deserts, redwood forests, and wetlands. Plants are arranged naturalistically in the Garden according to region of origin – Asia, Australasia, California, Eastern North America, Mediterranean, Mexico/Central America, Deserts of the Americas, South America, and Southern Africa – allowing visitors to travel the world of plants. Each tour features the Garden’s seasonal highlights and unique collections.
Tours are generally 1 hour. For adult tours, we provide one docent for every 10 people.
Docents of the UC Botanical Garden can tailor tours to fit the needs, interests, and age or grade level of your group. Tours provide a fun, educational activity for summer day camps and youth groups, as well as students. Youth tours are aligned with California State Education Standards. Teacher materials are available with some tours and will be included with your confirmation and invoice.
PRIMARY GRADES / 60 MIN
Plant Wonders: a Sensory Walk
Use all five senses to experience nature in the Garden. Touch, look, listen, smell, and taste as you investigate plants from around the world. Learn about roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, and the life cycles of plants.
*For Pre-K Tours, all children must be at least 4 years of age at the time of the tour.
Discovering Flowers and Plants
Develop your powers of observation as you explore plant communities from around the world. Why are there so many kinds of plants? How do their differences help them survive in their diverse environments? Discover the purpose of a flower – what the flower attracts, how, and why.
Thematic Options for Discovering Flowers and Plants:
Pollinators in the Garden (Best in spring and summer)
The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds you can observe in the Garden are just some of the world’s 200,000 species of pollinators. Discover how insects, birds, bats, and wind are essential in the life cycles of many plants and crops.
Plant Travelers (Best in fall)
Can plants really travel? Marvel at botanical fruit and seed adaptations, such as slingshots, parachutes, hitchhikers, helicopters and other mechanisms, that propel plant seeds around the Garden.
Trees in the Garden
How are trees different from other plants? How do they adapt to their environments, make food from sunlight, grow, and reproduce? In what ways are they essential to life on our planet? Visit trees from around the world, including the kinds of trees that lived when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and examples of the world’s tallest and most massive trees.
California Ecosystems and Habitats (Grades 3 & up)
Visit the Garden’s outstanding collection of California native plants. Explore plant communities including alpine fellfield, chaparral, coastal dune, desert, pine-oak woodland, pygmy forest, redwood forest, serpentine, and vernal pool. Compare the characteristics that allow plants to thrive in the Golden State’s unique ecosystems.