sunset magazine headquarters and gardens

This is the Sunset Magazine ourdoor farr that is held once a year. It is worth going to because it features all the best restaurant around the areas as well as places to go in California. You not only get good food, but you see how the magazine really works. It's a fun day for the whole family.

My husband, 5 kids and I were lucky enough to be able to visit the Sunset Magazine display gardens and it was simply amazing. Huge diversity of plants and the garden design is inspiring!!! Definitely worth a visit. Check the website to make sure it is open for visits.

I was hired right out of college and ended up being LW Lane Jr, corporate travel agent and was invited over to their head quarters for lunch the time to taste all the new recipes for their new cook books!

Sunset Magazine is an amazing organization that focuses on the American West They publish a monthly magazine that covers best places to travel in the west, great recipes, home architecture, and gardens. We are subscribers and always look forward to receiving their monthly publication.They also publish many worthwhile books on same subjects (travel, food, gardens, etc.) Sunset also has a very good web site.One can visit the headquarters in Menlo Park, Ca. They have some nice gardens there and just visited again today.Our favorite time to visit however is when they do their summer festivals with many food demos, famous chefs, gardening seminars, food, and more. They always put on a stellar event.

Large wooden doors entrance to the spacious reception area lead into an expanse of green lush lawn. This is a small garden with an ongoing test garden in the back with changing flowers and vegetables being grown and tested. Some of these display you will see in the Sunset Magazine.

The gardens are open during the week at no charge. I will be redoing my back yard and this was a great place to see plants and select the ones to include in my design. And love the serenity of the environment.

Fun to visit and see all the plants. Very peaceful and quiet. There really isn't much more to see here other than the plants and be able to be in peace.

If you've ever picked up Sunset Magazine, you will enjoy visiting their garden. It is a small loop, easy walk to see the various trees and shrubs of different zones in California. The trees are gorgeous! You can also visit the test gardens they photograph for the magazine. Staff was minimal when I was there. I would have done some shopping had they had a gift shop or book shop. No merchandise for sale there however.

My cousin took me on an unguided & unreserved tour of the gardens surrounding this beautiful facility, the model for western suburban living and gardening. The walk is divided by regions and plants are mostly well-marked. The kitchens were not available for tour that day; I believe this part must be arranged in advance. Worth a look.

You know the magazine so go see what they write about in person. The displays are not only beautiful but a learning experience also. Ask the staff the questions you have been saving up about gardening.

Lots of vendors showing garden and home and travel ideas and destinations. Beautiful gardens. Park far away and walk!

Sunset has an annual event showcase their advertisers, craft booths, wine, food, and California tourism. They also have demonstrations and give attendees an opportunity to tour their gardens. This is an event that is well worth the effort and admission to attend.

Visit one of their open houses to get great cooking demonstrations and gardening advice.

Always look forward to the annual open house of Sunset Celebration and this year was as terrific as ever. Wandering around the grounds and seeing the creativity of people is amazing. There were lots of snacks available. Looking forward to going again next year.

Having been long time subscribers to Sunset Magazine, we've always talked about going to the gardens and finally made it down there. We had almost the exact experience as the folks from Australia. The parking lot was empty, we walked through the great wooden doors and were greeted by....wait, no, we weren't greeted at all. The receptionist just sat there and looked at us like we had ten heads when we asked if this was the right place to see the gardens. No "Hello, welcome to Sunset," or "May I help you?" or anything. She pointed to the brochures, told us to go through the glass doors and close them behind us. Upon stepping through the doors the very strong stink of manure fertilizer hit us (no wonder she wanted to make sure we closed the doors behind us) We did enjoy our brief stroll through the gardens (once we got used to the manure smell) but were very underwhelmed with the entire experience. The place was a ghost town. And to read a nearly identical experience from almost two years ago, it's very sad that Sunset lacks any semblance of graciousness and hospitality to guests that came to see their gardens. We felt as if we were intruding. No worries, we will certainly not intrude again, nor will we recommend that our friends intrude as well.