2006 October 14 Field Trip Photos

A Walk Under Stanford's Trees

Thanks to Gail Klein for organizing this special trip.

Stanford University is a horticultural treasure trove. This visit was inspired by a chance to see some of the trees chronicled in Trees of Stanford and Environs, by Prof. Ron Bracewell who spoke to the Western Horticultural Society in April 2006. Our stroll through the spectacular autumn color with Herb Fong, Manager of Stanford's Grounds Services and a fellow WHS member (right), was interesting from several points of view:

These included:

• vignettes of landscape design history, with stops at areas planned by Frederick Law Olmsted, Thomas Church and Andy Goldsworthy;

• strange and beautiful plants. e.g. a direct view into the pinkly blooming canopy of the spiky-barked Choisya ternata tree (below), rising from a light well onto the 3rd floor of a parking garage ;

• a landscape mirroring the university's spatial development but keeping to formal patterns of malls, one of which is a 3-terrace sequence of regional plant communities- from the Sierra Range to Mediterranean to California natives;

• Stanford's integrated management of pests and diseases; and the refurbished Arizona Garden of succulents.