The Lloyd-Butler Botanical Garden is dedicated to an ever-expanding collection of 6,000 trees and plants of over 1,100 different taxa, whose biodiversity supports their family farm on the ranch where the garden is centered. Their trees and plants draw from thousands of years prehistory as thriving settlement site for the Chumash indigenous people; from nearly 200 years of recorded history starting in the Spanish colonial period – the ranch was incorporated in 1837; and their ongoing commitment to collecting unusual trees and plants from around the world.

Seven thematic gardens comprise the core 6 acres while tree and plant collections can also be found throughout the farm, pasture, and riparian land of the 1,250-acre ranch. The documented collection consists of over 800 trees and thousands more flowering plants, cacti, and succulents. Species-rich collections include over 240 palms and hundreds of oaks. There are collections of miniature conifers, ginkgo and over 50 varieties of acers. The cycad collection consists of over 70 plants drawing from 45 species, and the aloe collection draws from over 45 true species. Some of the noteworthy elements of the tree collection include a Victorian-era circular planting of 15 Phoenix canariensis, a mature Cedrus libani, and a grove of Wollemia nobilis, nestled amongst 5 of their different Araucariaceae cousins. There’s an enchanting multi-species grove of Bucarnea that serves as a “Lorax” forest in a Childrens’ garden and a newly-planted microforest anchored by 15 species of native oaks.