The UCSC Arboretum: A Grand Experiment

For the complete text and timeline [PDF] of The UCSC Arboretum: A Grand Experiment (Escholarship). Includes complete audio (streaming or download) for the oral history. Note: Due to editing by the narrator, there may be some differences between the audio recording and the transcript. Audio will be found under "Supporting Material."

2007, 313 pp., 5 illus., timeline.

The UCSC Arboretum grows nearly ten thousand plant species from around the world, has imported over 2,500 ornamentals, and enriched countless gardens by introducing native plants to the nursery trade. Arboretum staff and volunteers teach undergraduate classes, make presentations in K-12 classes in area schools, offer plant consultations to members of the community, provide legal testimony on rare species, and participate in international research efforts and local conservation initiatives. But how did this unique arboretum come to flourish at UC Santa Cruz? The UCSC Arboretum: A Grand Experiment: An Oral History addresses this question. This volume includes three oral histories, a historical introduction, a timeline, photographs, and other archival material; it chronicles the development of the UCSC Arboretum over the past forty years through interviews with Brett Hall, Phyllis Norris, and Daniel Harder, three key individuals who have shaped the Arboretum's history.