Entrance to Quarryhill     Overview of Quarryhill   Quarryhill has one of the largest colections of scientifically documented wild source temperate Asian plants in North America. The Garden has participated in annual plant collecting expeditions to China, Japan, Nepal, India, Taiwan & Cambodia to collect seeds and herbarium specimens.   Bill welcomes us to visit the garden. For more information on Quarryhill follow this link

The Speaker Program for       September 9, 2009   THE ANNUAL LOUISA BECK GUEST LECTURE         Bill (William) MCNamara Executive Director, Quarryhill Botanical Garden, Glen Ellen, California     Plants on the Move: Why Botanical Gardens are Vital to our Future            It isn’t a stretch to say Bill McNamara rubs shoulders with some of the most well-known folks in the horticultural field. The company he keeps includes horticulturists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Windsor Great Park and Howick Arboretum as well as our own San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum.     As Executive Director of Quarryhill Botanical Garden, he has had the opportunity to travel far and wide collecting plants. This has given him a unique perspective on the effects of plants that have been moved around the world. While plant hunting is a great passion of Mr. McNamara’s, he is well aware of the problems that can arise when species from another geographic location take over in their new homes. While all good gardeners try to prevent bringing invasive species to their areas, Mr. McNamara will discuss how the lives we lead today have been changed - mostly for the good - by the import of plants from around the world.       Economic, conservation and aesthetic factors have all played a role in how our gardens, parks and neighborhoods function, not to mention the foods on our plates. Our world is shrinking rapidly, and as Mr. McNamara says, “Most of these plants though are like most of us, emigrants". By the end of this century, botanists estimate we will have lost 40% of plant species to extinction. That's why there are Modern Day Plant Hunters, like William McNamara who trek to the wilds of Asia rescuing these plants for propagation preservation. For information on Louisa Beck