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Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
"Located on 65 acres in the foothills just above the city, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden features more than 1,000 species of native California plants, many of which are rare, illustrating natural plant communities or landscape applications. Walk along a meadow, through a canyon and redwood forest, across a historic dam, and along ridge tops that offer sweeping views of the Channel Islands." |
description from Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Vistors Map |
California's Mediterranean Climate
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California's native plants are adapted to a Mediterranean
climate. In a Mediterranean climate there is a moderate
amount of rain in the winter (generally 10" to 40")
followed by about 6 months of warm, dry summer weather.
Plants in a Mediterranean climate must be able to survive
without rain for half the year.
Many adaptations have evolved. For example, some plants have waxy or leathery leaves which retard the evaporation of moisture. Other plants become dormant, and the arrival or rain in the fall and winter months stimulates these plants to produce new growth and flowers. Even November can look like spring in California. The northernmost coastal regions of California may receive as much as 80" of rain. However, even there, summers are rainless (though foggy), and so again, special adaptations allow plants to survive the dry period. Fog droplets collect on the upper surfaces of the mostly horizontal leaves of the Coast Redwood. The moisture then drips to the ground and provides additional water. |
Desert Garden
What is a desert? |
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3 great North American deserts are found in California |
Great Basin Desert |
Mojave Desert |
Sonoran Desert |
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Redwood Section
Growing Up and Growing Out |
Every year, a redwood tree adds two new layers of wood just under its bark: one in the warm season and the other in the cool season. Together, the two layers form one annual growth ring. |
Division of Labor |
Look at this redwood cross section. Can you see how the seasonal
layers alternate between light and dark? This color difference
is a clue that two kinds of wood have different "jobs".
In the warm season, a redwood tree grows rapidly. It forms large cells that, when magnified in cross section, look like wide-diameter pipes. In fact, they are pipes; water and minerals move easily through these spacious, open structures. Warm-season cells make up the light bands you see in this wood. During the cool season, the tree grows slowly, producing cells that are narrower and very thick-walled. These compact cells lack the space to carry fluids efficiently. Instead, their bulk acts to strengthen the tree. As you can guess, these dense cool-season cells form the dark bands. Together, these two types of wood allow a redwood tree to grow big and tall. This tree once lived in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park near Big Sur. It lived more than 900 years before dying of natural causes. |
The redwood is one of the fastest growing trees in the world. |
By age 20, the tree will add several feet to its height each year. A 50-year old redwood can reach a height of 100'. A 200-year old redwood can reach a height between 200 and 350'. |
The Mission Waterworks System
Soon after the establishment of Mission Santa Barbara in
1786, an expanding population resulted in increasing demands
for water for domestic and agricultural use, as well as
milling and tanning. The severe droughts of 1794 and 1795
prompted creation of a water transport and storage system.
Construction of the Mission Waterworks system was the first major effort to bring an adundant and reliable supply of water to the Santa Barbara community. Utilizing an ingenious design created by Franciscan Padres, Native American laborers from the Barbareño Chumash crafted a water system that incorporated several technologies. Nearby streams with year-round water were chosen to divert water for the waterworks. The first reservoir at the Mission was constructed in 1806, followed by the Mission Dam in 1807 and a second dam in Rattlesnake Canyon in 1808. |
Mission Dam |
1807
The Mission Water Company purchased the Santa Barbara Mission water system in 1872. They made several "improvements" that bypassed the aqueduct entirely, including the installation of a cement intake box, filter box, and an 8-inch steel pipe.
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Other Garden Sections
There are other sections of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden that are not shown in detail on this website. The following pictures are just a sample of what you can see when you visit. |
The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is located at 1212 Mission Canyon Road, in Santa Barbara. See map. |
Items of Interest...
Related Links |
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden - official site |
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