The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a , containing over 1,000 species of rare and indigenous plants. It is located in Mission Canyon,

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, United States. The purpose of the Garden is to display California native plants in natural settings. There are approximately of hiking trails within the garden. Mission Creek flows through the premises, and includes a rock dam which was constructed in 1806 by Native Americans (mainly Canaliños) under the direction of the Spanish padres of the adjacent

Mission Santa Barbara Mission Santa Barbara () is a Spanish missions in California, Spanish mission in Santa Barbara, California, United States. Often referred to as the 'Queen of the Missions', it was founded by Padre Fermín Lasuén for the Franciscan order on Decem ...

History

The Garden was founded in 1926 and designed by landscape architect

Beatrix Farrand Beatrix Cadwalader Farrand (née Jones; June 19, 1872 – February 28, 1959) was an American landscape gardener and landscape architect. Her career included commissions to design about 110 gardens for private residences, estates and country hom ...

. By 1936 its focus had narrowed to plants native to the

California Floristic Province The California Floristic Province (CFP) is a floristic province with a Mediterranean-type climate located on the Pacific Coast of North America with a distinctive flora similar to other regions with a winter rainfall and summer drought climat ...

(which includes a bit of southwestern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and part of

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, as well as most of the state of California). The Garden became a Santa Barbara County Historical Landmark in 1983 (the dam on Mission Creek was already designated as a State Historic Landmark). On May 6, 2009, part of the Botanic Garden was burned in the

Jesusita Fire The Jesusita Fire was a wildfire that started on May 5, 2009, in the hills of Santa Barbara, California in the western United States. By the time the fire was contained on May 18 it had burned , destroyed 80 homes and damaged 15 more before be ...

, which burned much of the front country of the

Santa Ynez Mountains The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America. It is the westernmost range in the Transverse Ranges. The range is a large fault block of Cenozoic age created ...

behind Santa Barbara. While garden displays have recovered from the devastating effects of the fire, several buildings were destroyed. One was the century-old Gane House, which contained the overstock for the garden library as well as many of the tools used for garden upkeep; the home of the garden's director; and a wooden deck overlooking the creek. June, 2015 marks the ground-breaking on the new John C. Pritzlaff Conservation Center at the site of the old Gane House. The building opened in 2016.

Plant breeding

The Garden has a plant breeding program. Plant introduction include

Aesculus The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with notable species including buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native plant, native to the temperateness, temperat ...

californica 'Canyon Pink',

Agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plan ...

shawii, Arctostaphylos 'White Lanterns',

Arctostaphylos ''Arctostaphylos'' (; from "bear" and "bunch of grapes") is a genus of plants comprising the manzanitas () and bearberries. There are about 60 species of ''Arctostaphylos'', ranging from ground-hugging arctic, coastal, and mountain shrub t ...

'Canyon Blush',

insularis 'Canyon Sparkles', Artemisia californica 'Canyon Gray',

Berberis ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in South America a ...

aquifolium 'Mission Canyon',

Ceanothus ''Ceanothus'' is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). Common names for members of this genus are buckbrush, California lilac, soap bush, or just ceanothus. ''"Ceanothus" ...

'Wheeler Canyon', Ceanothus 'Far Horizons', Ceanothus arboreus 'Powder Blue',

Eriophyllum ''Eriophyllum'', commonly known as the woolly sunflower, is a North American genus of plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus is native to western North America (USA, Canada, northwestern Mexico), with a concentration of narrow endemics in Cal ...

nevinii 'Canyon Silver', and Fremontodendron 'Dara's Gold'. Additional breeding includes

Heuchera ''Heuchera'' ( or ) is a genus of largely evergreen perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae. All species are native to North America except for '' Heuchera sichotensis'', native to the Russian Far East. Common names include alumroot and co ...

'Blushing Bells', Heuchera 'Canyon Belle', Heuchera 'Canyon Chimes', Heuchera 'Canyon Delight', Heuchera 'Canyon Duet', Heuchera 'Canyon Melody', Heuchera 'Canyon Pink', Heuchera 'Dainty Bells', Heuchera 'Pink Wave', Iris 'Canyon Snow', Lessingia filaginifolia 'Silver Carpet',

Leymus ''Leymus'' is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae (Gramineae). It is widespread across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. * '' Leymus aemulans'' - Xinjiang, Central Asia * '' Leymus ajanensis'' - Siberia, Russian Far East, Alaska * '' L ...

condensatus 'Canyon Prince',

Salvia ''Salvia'' () is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with just under 1,000 species of shrubs, Herbaceous plant, herbaceous Perennial plant, perennials, and Annual plant, annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, ''Salvia'' is part o ...

'Dara's Choice', Salvia cedrosensis 'Baja Blanca', Salvia leucophylla '

Amethyst Amethyst is a Violet (color), violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek from - , "not" and (Ancient Greek) / (Modern Greek), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from Alcohol into ...

Bluff', and

Verbena ''Verbena'' (), also known as vervain or verveine, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 150 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the Americas ...

lilacina 'De La Mina'.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Botanical gardens in California Parks in Santa Barbara, California Flora of California Santa Ynez Mountains 1926 establishments in California Protected areas established in 1926 History of Santa Barbara County, California Tourist attractions in Santa Barbara, California Flora without expected TNC conservation status

History

Plant breeding

See also

References

External links