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Zusatztext “Lushly photographed and profiled.” — San Diego Home and Garden “An excellent resource for visiting [California] public gardens.” — The Santa Cruz Sentinel? Informationen zum Autor Donald Olson is a travel writer, novelist, and playwright with a longtime interest in gardens and gardening. His work has appeared in the New York Times , National Geographic , and other national publications, and he is the author of several travel guides. An avid gardener himself, Olson has been exploring the great gardens of Europe and the Pacific Northwest for many years. You can visit his website at donaldstevenolson.com. Klappentext Among California's many charms! one of the most extraordinary is its treasury of public gardens. This detailed guide introduces you to fifty of the state’s most beautiful cultivated spaces! from the glorious prison gardens of Alcatraz! to the exotic Eden of opera diva Ganna Walska. An easy-to-use format! location maps! and enticing photography make this a must-have companion for residents and visitors alike—sharing places of splendor! history! drama! and wonder. Introduction “I firmly believe from what I have seen that it is the chosen spot of all this earth as far as Nature is concerned.” Luther Burbank wrote those words in 1875. He had just arrived in California and could barely contain his excitement. The state’s natural beauty, diverse plant life, and Mediterranean climate acted on this transplanted New Englander just as it has on millions of visitors since. Of course, California is a very different place from what it was in Burbank’s time. He arrived only twenty-five years after California had achieved statehood. It hadn’t yet become the political, economic, and agricultural powerhouse it is today. Now, with a population of nearly 39 million people, California shares the same urban and environmental woes we all share, and a few that are unique to California alone. But California also has some of the greatest gardens you will ever see, anywhere. Period. And once you visit a few of them, you may find yourself texting, tweeting, or emailing your friends back home using the same exultant language that Burbank used in 1875. A Brief History of California Gardens The fifty gardens I’ve included fall into four basic types: estate gardens (once private, now public), botanical gardens, parks, and art gardens. In each entry I describe the background or backstory of the garden, but it’s also useful to have a historical overview of gardens and gardening in California as a whole. Native Peoples Dates vary, but it’s safe to assume that California has been inhabited for at least 12,000 years and probably longer. The two primary native groups were the Tongva people, who lived in the south, roughly from the Los Angeles Basin to San Diego, and the Ohlones, who inhabited the San Francisco Peninsula down to Monterey. Although it’s possible that there was some cultivation of plants, the two indigenous groups were primary hunter-gatherers who subsisted on game, fish, shellfish, and a seasonal harvest of acorns, berries, seeds, and roots. They also used native plants for basket weaving and dyes, and to make their shelters. The San Diego Botanic Garden’s Native Plants and Native People Trail features a re-creation of the frond-roofed, dome-shaped dwellings of the Kumeyaay people, and shows the plants they used. The Native Basketry Garden at the Marin Art and Garden Center is a habitat garden created to show the kinds of plants native peoples used to fashion their baskets. The Mission Era Gardening in California began in the late eighteenth century with the establishment of Catholic missions by the Spanish Franciscan Order. Twenty-one missions were founded from San Diego
