Pacifica in the Siskiyous
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Botanic Garden

"A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under whose shade they will never sit."
(Greek Proverb)

Pacifica in the Siskiyous
 

Some History

The 6,000 kinds of ornamental and useful plants from this country and around the world grown by Forestfarm Nursery will form an initial base for this one-day distinguished botanic garden.

The Vision

Our lives depend on plants and our knowledge of them along with the level of our appreciation and respect for them. Rather than a formal display garden (such as Bouchart Gardens or the new Oregon Garden) which provide, primarily, a colorful display for visual enjoyment, Pacifica will be a botanic garden -- a "living museum" collection of plants arranged in a park-like setting for education and research, as well as enjoyment. While including a large area of native plants as well as plants from around the world, the goals of this "living museum" will be multiple:

  1. to involve people with plants through enjoyable interactive interpretive trails and hands-on activities dealing with everything from ethnobotany to landscape design, from plants and the senses to revegetation and the needs of the environment.
  2. to provide propagation stock and information to encourage the expansion of the horticultural industry in Southern Oregon
  3. to provide plants and support for a variety of research projects. "There is no plant that is unimportant. The genetic information contained in the germplasm of each species is unique…"(Edward Ayensu)
  4. to provide a site for hands-on training for those seeking professional vocational certification in the fields of horticulture and landscape design and maintenance.
Pacifica Pacifica

The Advisory Board

A group of plant/botanic garden "fanatics" from up and down the West Coast has met several times and had a good time working on plans for this living museum. For more information call Peg (541-846-9230).

The Garden Plan

  1. Most plants will be arranged using good design principles into geo-botanical areas including the Siskiyous, NW US, SW US, the prairie, SE US, NE US, AS (temperate and high elevation), Europe, and the Southern Hemisphere.
  2. An interior loop road circling through the botanic garden will have along it 10-15 small highlight areas of 1 to 5 acres each. For instance, the Siskiyous area will have two highlight areas: one for a serpentine outcrop and one for a Darlingtonia fen; the Asian area might have Himalayan rock garden and bamboo forest highlight areas, etc. These smaller intensively-planted and interpreted areas will be access points to the longer interconnecting trails throughout the garden.
  3. The larger areas will be intersected by a variety of adjustable theme trails. Each of these trails will have some hands-on activities to involve visitors of all ages with plants. In general, the main premise will be making learning about plants fun.

Current Update

Though it seems sometimes like we're moving through quick-sand(!), plans are Progressing. We were lucky enough to have Kang Wang from the Beijing Botanic Garden work with us for several months this spring to set-up a computer mapping program (Arc View). We certainly appreciated Kang's help and enjoyed his visit.

A preliminary vegetation survey continues along with surveying and gridding.