Catalina

This week we're paying another visit to one of California's greatest treasures: Catalina Island. We'll take a look at the island's rich history and we'll check in on some of the quirky characters we've visited in years past.

Since 1935 the Catalina Botanical Garden has been a protected oasis for a variety of plant species…including many endangered varieties, found naturally only on Catalina Island. We'll bring you along for a fascinating look at this incredible garden.

We've covered a number of unusual crops -- banana plantations in the southern part of the state and farmers who grow macadamia nuts and mangoes. But at California Tropics we stumbled upon a crop that's so new to us; we just had to put it on the show!

The island of Catalina is known for being quaint and just a little bit quirky…and that just about sums up Rosie Cadman.

Allison Thompson went to sea to visit the Channel Islands off the California Coast. We'll show you what she found there and what the Heartland has to offer just twenty miles off the mainland.

One of the hidden jewels on Catalina Island is El Rancho Escondido, which means, "lost ranch." So how did Arabian horses and North American buffalo make their way to an island 22 miles off the California coast? Pat McConahay will take you behind the scenes of this historic ranch.