Plant Collections

Signature Landscapes

The five Signature Landscapes will feature the main plant collections of the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden.  These collections will demonstrate the flora unique to each Mediterranean climate region.  These collections will be displayed as distinct plant communities, emphasizing their contribution to biodiversity within each region's natural ecosystem.

California

• The largest both in area - 47.40 acres - and in total number of collections; nine: oak woodland, mixed evergreen forest, grassland, coastal scrub, chaparral, sycamore glen, agave-yucca rise, riparian forest and wetland.
• Display of specimens from Baja California northward to a point about halfway between San Francisco and Eureka.

Mediterranean Basin

• An 11.50 acre site, organized into three collections: oasis, Canary Island crest, and Mediterranean slope.
• Plant species from the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

Chili

• A 20.43 acre site devoted to the flora of central Chile with seven separate collections: araucaria crest, southern beech forest, coastal matorral, puya palisades, Chilean arroyo, Chilean mixed forest and Chilean palm grove.

South Africa

• A 7.63-acre site with three collections: Cape succulents (the Cape of Good Hope area is home to the richest succulent flora in the world), floral carpet of the Cape and the fynbos tapestry, so called because the diverse vegetation is woven into a continuous shrub land of varied shapes and sizes.

South and Southern Western Australia

• A 12.50-acre site with four specific collections from two separate areas of Australia: a garden of the protea family, kwongan (small groupings of eucalyptus woodlands and associated thickets), karri, marri, and jarrah forest (a display of giant eucalyptus trees that rank among the tallest trees in the world) and grass tree slope.

Orchard, Vineyard and Entry Plantings (12-acres)

• On the slope adjacent to Highway 1, there will be a collections of plants of economic importance - orchards of grapes, walnuts, pistachios, olives and other productive plants of the Mediterranean climate areas with naturalized flowering ground covers from each region.
• An allee of Italian cypress intermixed with a broad leaf evergreen canopy lines the entry road.

Gardens of Exploration (11-acres)

• Groupings of demonstration gardens will surround the Visitor Center.  Plantings will be chosen to demonstrate interpretative themes.  Five general areas have been identified for exploration:  horticultural therapy, ecology, biology, cultural influences and horticultural opportunities.

The Equator

• Plant collections from all five of the Mediterranean climate regions - marquis of the Mediterranean Basin, chapparal of California, mattoral of Chile, kwongan and mallee of Australia and fynbos of South Africa - form a dense buffer of plants, a 'living fence' representing the equator.

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