Quarryhill Botanical Garden

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Quarryhill Botanical Garden

The Quarryhill Botanical Garden is a research botanical garden housing one of the largest collections of temperate Asian plants in North America. Quarryhill is located near Glen Ellen, in the Sonoma Valley of California, USA, and is open to the public.

The garden is devoted to plants from temperate China, Japan and the Himalayas, with more than 90 percent grown from wild-collected, scientifically documented seed. The collection includes rare varieties such as Acer pentaphyllum, Cornus capitata, Holboellia coriacea, Illicium simonsii, and Rosa chinensis var. spontanea, all native to Sichuan, as well as extensive collections of various wild Asian dogwoods, lilies, magnolias, maples, oaks, roses, and rhododendrons.

The Arboretum can be traced back to 1968, when Jane Davenport Jansen purchased 61 acres (247,000 m²) for vineyards. In 1987, she started a garden on 20 acres (81,000 m²) of this property, among hillsides consisting of old rock quarries. In that year, Quarryhill representatives made their first seed collecting expedition to Asia. A nursery was established in 1988, and planting began in 1990. The Arboretum was her personal sanctuary as well as the joy of her life.

Annual Quarryhill expeditions have collected seeds and herbarium specimens from the following Asian regions to date: China - Hubei, Sichuan, Taiwan, Tibet, Yunnan; India - Himachal Pradesh; Japan - Hokkaidō, Honshū, Kyūshū, Shikoku, Yakushima; and Nepal. Other expeditions have collected from North America. The garden also receives wild collected seed courtesy of Index Seminum publications from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as Asian seed and plants from North American gardens.

See also

• List of botanical gardens in the United States

External links

• Official site