Talk:California Botanic Garden

Paid editing request: Proposed History section for the California Botanic garden page

I am thinking of adding a history section to the California Botanic Garden wikipedia page so people better know the garden's history. There is some repeat information in here that is also in the introduction but I was thinking that the information could be moved to the history section. The only instruction I was given by the Botanic Garden was to make our wikipedia page more robust.

History

California Botanic Garden’s creation was conceptualized by Susanna Bixby Bryant to bring attention to the importance of California native plants. The garden was established in 1927 and was dedicated in memory of Bryant’s father, John W. Bixby. It was the second botanic garden in California dedicated to native plants, as Santa Barbara Botanic Garden was established the year prior. She dedicated 200 acres of her 6,000-acre Santa Ana Canyon ranch property to be converted into Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and became its managing director. At this location, appointments were needed to access the garden.

She consulted and collaborated with Willis Linn Jepson, author of the Manual of the Flowering Plants of California, and Ernest Braunton, a prominent landscape architect, to coordinate the garden layout and determine where plants would be grown. The resident garden herbarium was also established at the garden’s inception and continues to grow throughout the garden’s history. Edward Howard, the first nurseryman at the garden, set the precedent for the botanic garden to obtain seeds from wild populations to grow native plants instead of buying plants. Theodore Payne collected seeds and herbarium specimens for the garden and helped direct plantings. John Thomas Howell, a master’s student of Jepson, oversaw collecting herbarium specimens and plants for the living collection as the resident botanist of the garden for only the summer of 1927, as he was hired as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the fall of that year. The position was then given to Carl Brandt Wolf, who held the position of resident botanist from 1930 to 1945. Following Wolf’s departure, Philip Alexander Munz, a botany professor at Pomona College, was appointed as the next resident botanist of the Garden and the first scientific director.

The 1940s and 1950s were marked by a set of tragedies and changes that greatly influenced the future of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. In 1943, a fire burned and consumed a third of the garden, and the next year brought heavy rainstorms, which damaged the garden further through erosion and landslides; in total, around 5,300 plants were lost. In 1946, Susana Bixby Bryant passed away suddenly, which jeopardized the future of the garden. After her passing, Philip Munz was made the new managing director and made several key changes. In 1947, Munz initiated the official scientific journal of the botanic garden named Aliso, formerly El Aliso, and named it such due to the historical importance of the sycamore. In actuality, the journal was the combination of two previous publications:  Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Monographs, Horticultural Series and Botanical Series. Concerns grew regarding the garden’s remoteness from places of higher education and possible tensions with the heirs of Mrs. Bryant’s land. Munz suggested the garden’s relocation to the Claremont Colleges, with the botanic garden's primary affiliation being Claremont Graduate University, as the home of the garden's Botany department. Plans for the relocation were finalized in 1950, and planting operations for the new location began in 1951. That year, over 10,000 plants and 25,000 bulbs were planted throughout the new space.

At the time of the acquisition of the Claremont land, the area was mostly covered with sagebrush with species such as white sage (Salvia apiana), black sage (Salvia mellifera), California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), laurel sumac (Malosma laurina), lemonade-berry (Rhus integrifolia), and California coffee-berry (Frangula californica), all of which are currently found in the garden. A stand of California coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) on the eastern side of the mesa, and western sycamores (Platanus racemosa) continue to persist from before the garden’s relocation.

In 1975, the garden began to include plants from northern Baja California, following the boundary of the California floristic province rather than the state, as many plants in the state of California have their southern range limit in northern Baja California. This change allowed the garden to have representatives from the entire geographical range of species extending beyond the border and allowed the incorporation of plants present in that portion of Baja California that aren’t within the state.

The original layout of the garden post relocation was aligned with the floristic regions of California in a north-to-south orientation following the layout of these regions across the state. As it turned out, the northern part of the garden is hotter while the southern part is shadier, the inverse of the requirements needed for the plants of each region. Since that initial planting, the garden continues to relocate its plants to better match each plant's growing conditions.

The garden is a member of the Center for Plant Conservation, a consortium of North American institutions working to preserve native plant species. It is also an accredited member of the American Public Gardens Association and is the second botanic garden to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

In 2020, the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden became known as California Botanic Garden to emphasize the garden’s purpose and dedication to California native plants. It was also changed to clarify that the garden is no longer in Santa Ana, nor is it a ranch. The name change also prompted the logo to change from a sycamore leaf (Platanus racemosa) to a Matilija poppy flower (Romneya coulteri), the largest native California flower. Dendomecon (talk) 04:57, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

Needs some copyediting ("Santa Barbra Botanic Graden"), but looks good overall. I'm not sure what "a Baja California section to better align with the plants that grow in the California floristic province rather than within the state borders; this was done to have representations of plants across their full range as many plants that grow in California have their range limit in northern Baja California" is trying to say. "Plants that grow in the US state of California have their southern range limit in northern Baja"? Or is it "plants that grow in the Cfp have their northern range limit in Baja, and don't occur in the US state of California"? I suspect it is the latter, but the wording reads more like the former. Plantdrew (talk) 15:52, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

Paid editing request: Addding photographs to the botanic garden page

I'm thinking of adding more photographs to the page now that there's more text as well as adding the standard wikipedia location map after the Majestic oak picture. Below the oak picture are other pictures and descriptions I'm thinking about including. I took the following photos so there aren't any issues regarding rights of use. I was thinking of using some of the photographs throughout the page and then I was thinking about including the rest in a gallery section.

California Botanic Garden's Majestic Oak (Quercus agrifolia) which is around 250 years old.

California Botanic Garden
California Botanic Garden's Majestic Oak (Quercus agrifolia) which is around 250 years old.
Interactive map of California Botanic Garden
Type	Botanical garden
Location	Claremont, California
Nearest city	Claremont, California
Coordinates	34°06′38″N 117°42′54″W
Area	86 acres (35 ha)
Created	1927 (Santa Ana), 1951 (Claremont)
Open	8 am-5 pm to 8 am-8 pm depending on the time of year
Status	Open year-round
Website	Official website

Redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) in the cultivar garden.

Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) growing in the California community gardens.

California button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) near the wildlife pond.

Spice bush (Calycanthus occidentalis) flower found within mesa gardens.

Caliofrnia Botanic Garden entrance pathway.

View of the wildflower meadow from the mesa.

Luminaria nights

Desert peach (Prunus andersonii) in the California community gardens.

Cobweb thistle (Cirsium occidentale) flower in the California community gardens.

Humboldt's Lily (Lilium humboldtii) flower in the mesa gardens.

Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri) flower, largest flower in California, in the southern California gardens.

Rose Mallow (Hibiscus lasiocarpos var. occidentalis) flower, second largest flower in California, near the reflecting pond.

Great Yellow Pond-lily (Nuphar polysepala) in the reflecting pond.

Boojum tree (Fouquieria columnaris) in the California community gardens.

California Fan Palms (Washingtonia filifera) in the fan palm oasis.

Palmer's abutilon (Abutilon palmeri) flower

Baja phlox (Acanthogilia gloriosa) flowers in the california community gardens.

California Botanic Garden Administration Building

Mesa garden path with native wildflowers.

Dendomecon (talk) 23:20, 11 June 2026 (UTC)