Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg is a 47-acre public garden shaped by a mild coastal Mediterranean climate, acidic soils, and a landscape of canyons, wetlands, bluffs, and closed-cone conifer forest. Founded in 1961 by Ernest and Betty Schoefer as a private enterprise, it was later assembled under public ownership through acquisitions supported by the California Coastal Conservancy and the Mendocino Coast Recreation and Park District. Its collections include rhododendrons, camellias, conifers, and native coastal flora, and it preserves a historic corridor linked to the 19th-century Parrish family. The gardens also serve the community through food production, public programs, and accessible recreation.