San Diego Floral Association
Library

Library Location:
1650 El Prado
Room 105, Casa del Prado, Balboa Park

Library Hours :
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday
Closed Holidays
Telephone: 619-232-5762

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106BC - 3BC) Roman statesman, scholar, orator

One of the main purposes of the San Diego Floral Association is that of horticultural education and the dissemination of gardening information. To this end, when the Association was first founded in 1907, a library was established so that gardening information would be readily available to members and the general public.

The San Diego Floral Association Library contains over 3,500 books, which are indexed by author, title and subject.

In addition to these books many local garden associations and plant societies send their newsletters to the library. Bound copies of California Garden magazine from its inception to the present day are available for browsing and study. These provide not only an enormous amount of gardening information, but demonstrate the fascinating story of how various plants and gardening methods tend to come into and go out of favor.

The library is open to everyone. However, if you want to check out books, you must become a member of the San Diego Floral Association.

A note on library organization: The books are indexed to make it easy to find specific information. Categories include groups of plants such as TREES, CACTI AND SUCCULENTS, ANNUALS, PERENNIALS, BULBS as well as specific plants such as ORCHIDS, ROSES, IRIS, CLEMATIS. Broad categories are LANDSCAPE, BOTANIC GARDENS, WATER GARDENS, SMALL GARDENS, FLOWER ARRANGING.

A Reference Section has the four volume Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening, as well as the Jepson Manual and Botanical Roses.

Bound copies of California Garden from the first issue in 1907 provide an interesting history of gardening in San Diego.

We also have bound copies of The Garden: an Illustrated Weekly Journal edited by William Robinson for the years 1872-1899. These were donated by William Robinson himself and brought back from England by Kate Sessions.

Mission: To promote the knowledge and appreciation of horticulture and floriculture in the San Diego region.