Welcome to Pikake Gardens

Aerial View of Pikake Gardens

About Pikake Gardens: Two years ago, Pikake Gardens was sold by the Childress’. What follows below is the cover page to the Pikake garden web site.

Come visit a Garden of Gardens. Pikake Gardens, enjoys a unique combination of microclimates; from the intense heat required for a flourishing Desert Garden to the frost free climate required to cultivate the tender plants of the Rain Forest. Pikake's Rain Forest includes an amazing variety of tropical and subtropical fruits, plants and trees. They are constantly experimenting with new introductions in an effort to expand the biodiversity of Southern California's flora.

Pikake Gardens was conceived as a lifelong dream of Clyde and Connie Childress. Tired of the bustle of South Orange County they decided to relocate to Valley Center. Clyde and Connie first contacted their soon-to-be designer and artist/contractor Bryan Morse of Expanding Horizons in the fall of 1998. In initial consultations with the Childresses, Bryan Morse mapped out the vision, which would guide the development of the gardens. The six acre parcel was divided into rough zones that would form the boundaries of the various gardens.
Visitors arriving at Pikake Gardens enter the gates onto the Grand Concourse which is oriented from the north entry to the south entry of the property. It acts as an artery to access the various gardens which include: A Rain Forest, a Tropical Fruit Garden, a Formal Rose Garden, a Mediterranean Garden, a Protea Garden, a Desert Garden, a Forest Walk, a Pan-Asian Garden, a Bog Garden, a Prayer Garden and an English Garden. Long-term plans also include a Greenhouse to house the more sensitive plants in the collection.

Globetrotters: San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles article about Pikake Gardens