Garden Glory
Over the decades, visitors have reveled in the sight of brilliantly blooming poppies in the Meadow, where the backdrop of Cathedral Peak provides one of the quintessential vistas at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
Written by Joan Tapper
Photography courtesy Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
This year the SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN celebrates its centennial of championing native plants. Founded in 1926 by Anna Dorinda Blaksley Bliss with a focus on California species, the garden has grown from 13 acres in Mission Canyon to more than 78 acres, including new paths and family features in a Backcountry section. More important, its mission has expanded from showcasing the 1,000 indigenous species on its grounds to carrying on extensive conservation, preservation, and research programs throughout California.
Visiting the garden—with its sections of redwoods, desert flora, manzanitas, meadow, and more—remains a delight in any season, but there’s also vital work behind the scenes in the Pritzlaff Conservation Center, home to laboratories, the Clifton Smith Herbarium (with more than 230,000 specimens), and the Seed Bank, a repository of more than 4 million examples of 424 rare plants. How better to honor a century of success than by ensuring the future of native spieces for centuries to come? 1212 Mission Canyon Rd., Santa Barbara, sbbotanicgarden.org
