Current Issue  |  From the Archives

The Fresh Waters of Marin by Dick O'Donnell Though much the rain that falls on the back side of Mt. Tamalpais never completes its journey to the ocean, its containment in behind municipal water system dams has protected the spectacular serpentine watershed it sustains. Dick O'Donnell's lyrical prose evokes the spirit of this ruggedly beautiful place. Water in the Garden by Glenn Keator There's a lot we can learn from the rain about how best to water our gardens. The New Rock Mound Revisited by Joe Dahl The plants in the garden's new southern California rock outcrop are thriving and blooming beautifully in their second year. Joe Dahl provides a plant list for the new outcrop as well as some hints about how the garden staff has made those southland plants feel at home here in northern California.

Over some seventy years now, California's four large native botanic gardens--Rancho Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, U.C. Berkeley, and the Regional Parks--have played vital roles in the introduction of native cultivars. These great gardens have joined a number of private nurseries in this endeavor.

Most cultivars are clones, in other words they involve genetically identical plants reproduced vegetatively. A cultivar may begin as a selection made in the field, for instance an unusually floriferous individual that really stands out from run-of-the-mill examples of a common species. Or it may begin as a hybrid individual that unexpectedly appears in a garden setting where two species that could never have a chance to interbreed in the wild are growing together. A cultivar could even begin as a mutant new branch with unusual foliage on a tree that hitherto seemed unremarkable. . .

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The Role of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in the Preservation of Rare Plants
By Joe Dahl
From Volume 3, Number 2, Summer 1999

With the coming of warmer weather the perennial and deciduous plants of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden have emerged. The warmer weather has brought an increase in visitors who are lured by the pleasant weather and the new, lush, late spring growth that appears to have renewed the Garden. Beds that appeared empty over the winter months are now covered in leafy mounds and flowers of many colors.

Lately, I have been approached by Garden visitors who wish to compliment the staff on the wonderful appearance of the Garden. It occurred to me that there are aspects of the Garden beyond its obvious beauty that many visitors may not be aware of. Not only does the Regional Parks Botanic Garden house an extensive collection of California native plants, but many of the plants in the collection are listed as rare or rare and endangered by the state of California. In the Garden are also examples of plants that have become extinct in the wild...

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