A stunningly Peaceful and Beautiful secret garden! Lunch included at Gaya Kaku Japanese restaurant in historic Oakland District.

The GSBF Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt is the home to some of the finest Bonsai on the west coast. The BGLM, located at Oakland’s Lakeside Park, is the only major all-volunteer bonsai garden in the country and houses some of the most important bonsai in the US.

Docents can point out the historic Daimyo oak tree that was presented by the newly opened Japanese government to the US Ambassador to China in the 1860s during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. You can view the oldest tree in the collection – estimated to be over 1,600 years old and can see the pine tree that was featured at the 1915 Pan Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco.