Turtle Bay’s McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens are located on the north side of the Turtle Bay Exploration Park campus, across the Sundial Bridge. Initially, supporters of the Redding Arboretum, one of four organizations that merged to create Turtle Bay Exploration Park, helped drive the development of a series of botanical gardens. Turtle Bay inherited and embraced the plan to develop the site as seen today.

Today the botanical gardens comprise 25 acres of mediterranean-climate display gardens, a children’s garden, a medicinal garden, and two beautiful and unique water features and a large seasonal pond that is home to many animals. The botanical gardens carry Turtle Bay’s sustainability message to another level and express a very positive ethic about a harmonious fit between natural systems and human activity.

The arboretum is over 200 acres of native trees and plants in downtown Redding. A one mile walking trail loop surrounds the Arboretum and directly links to the rest of the award-winning Sacramento River Trail. Over the years restoration planting projects in the Arboretum have successfully increased the number and species of trees and plants that provide habitat for a wide variety of local wildlife.