GILROY, Calif. — Bonfante Gardens is a new amusement park with an unusual theme: trees. But not just your average trees. Amazing trees--the creations of an eccentric gardener named Axel Erlandson, who began training them into fanciful shapes in the 1920s.
In the 1950s he moved his collection to what he called the Tree Circus, near Santa Cruz. After his death in 1964, they languished in a field until businessman and tree fancier Michael Bonfante bought the collection. In 1984 he managed to move 25 of the trees to his nursery in Gilroy, where he was determined to make them the centerpiece of a new amusement park geared for garden lovers and families with young children. Forget death-defying thrill rides; this was to be a kinder, gentler place.
Bonfante Gardens Family Theme Park opened in June 2001, and after closing three months later to resolve financial problems, it reopened in May. The Circus Trees are the highlight, but other beautiful specimens and no fewer than five special gardens surround rides, restaurants and shopping spots in a lushly landscaped park.
The plants are so important that the park has scheduled "gardens only" days--usually on a Friday--when most of the rides and shops are closed, making it easier to walk around and look at the plantings. Last month I used one of these garden days as a springboard to a weekend in Gilroy, just over the hill from Santa Cruz.
I like to zoom around and see things when I travel, while my wife, Iris, prefers to relax by a beach. So when I suggested a visit to Bonfante Gardens, I quickly added that a new B&B called the Pleasure Point Inn had opened in Santa Cruz. It boasts of having "the best ocean view," as voted by travelers surveyed by a trade journal. The inn's large and protected rooftop deck has a big hot tub for relaxing and sunning. That convinced her.
Early one Friday we flew to San Jose and drove south on U.S. 101, then west on California 152 (Hecker Pass Highway) to Bonfante Gardens. The park usually opens at 10 a.m., but on garden days it doesn't open until noon. We accidentally arrived early, but that was no problem, with Garlic City Coffee and Tea awaiting in town and lots of antiques shops on Monterey Street. We killed a couple of hours, then returned to the park.
On garden days, the standard $29.95 adult admission ($19.95 for children 3 to 12) is reduced to $10.95. Parking is $2 instead of the regular $7.
