The San Francisco Botanical Garden (formerly Strybing Arboretum) is a large botanical garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Its 55 acres (22.3 ha) include over 7,500 species, making it one of the largest on the West Coast.
Originally laid out in the 1890s by park supervisor John McLaren , funding was insufficient to begin construction until Helene Strybing willed funds in 1926. Planting was begun in 1937 with WPA funds supplemented by local donations, and the arboretum officially opened in May of 1940. As a part of Golden Gate Park, it is officially managed by the city of San Francisco, but the volunteers of the SF Botanical Garden Society play an important role in maintaining the collection.
The Garden continues to actively acquire plants; in 2004 it received 1143 accessions totalling over 5,600 individual plants.
The gardens are organized into several specialized collections:
- Mediterranean
- California native plants
- John Muir Nature Trail
- Redwood Trail
- Chile
- Cape Province (South Africa)
- Southwestern Australia
- Mediterranean Basin Region
- Mild-temperate climate
- Eastern Australia
- New Zealand
- Moon-viewing Garden - a Japanese design
- Takamine Garden - Asian plants
- Temperate Asian Garden
- Montane tropic
- Specialty collections
- Primitive plants garden - cycads, etc
- Succulent garden
- Dwarf Conifer garden
- Home Demonstration Gardens
- Garden of Fragrance
- Zellerbach Garden of Perennials
- Dry Mexico
- Magnolias & Camellias
The mild Mediterranean climate is ideal for plants from surprisingly many parts of the world; the arboretum does not include a display greenhouses for species requiring other climate types.
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