Our first botanical garden of focus is the UC Santa Cruz
Arboretum, located on the beautiful Santa Cruz campus about 75 miles south of
the San Francisco Bay Area. It specializes in Mediterranean plants from Australia,
New Zealand, South Africa, and California. I visited the garden when I took a
Mediterranean Plant ID class at Merritt College, and reported on some of the
fascinating flowers (see Aliens from Down Under).
The Santa Cruz Arboretum covers 135 acres, which enables
them to accommodate group tours, and individual wandering.
 |
| Botanist Glenn Keator leads a group tour |
 |
| An inviting path at the arboretum |
The ample space provides room for plant communities, so you
can view plants in situ and with other plants. What conditions, such as sun
exposure, drainage, and aspect, ensure a thriving plant?
 |
| Plant communities provide layers of plants |
 |
| Natural terrain for plants |
Plants can spread to their mature size, which can be very
valuable when researching plants for a particular garden design. Is there space
for the plant to reach maturity? Would the plant require excessive maintenance
if not?
 |
| These plants require lots of room to spread |
Plants are labeled, making it easy to identify and learn.
 |
| Labels clearly identify plants at the arboretum |
Many plants are offered for sale in Norrie’s Gift and Garden
Shop, or in seasonal plant sales. The Arboretum also participates in the Koala
Blooms plant introduction project, which is a joint venture with growers in
California and Australia for introducing plants to the California market. This
program enables them to evaluate plants for disease, hardiness, and
invasiveness, before introducing them to the California market.
 |
| Succulents |
|
 |
| Multi-generation flowers |
|
 |
| South African daisies |
|
 |
| Beautiful textures |
|
I recommend this arboretum for finding out more about Mediterranean
plants, and seeing some pretty spectacular flowers in the process. Think of Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander while you’re there – these are some of the
plants they may have encountered as they visited Australia while circumnavigating the globe in the
1700s.
No comments:
Post a Comment