THE SAN BRUNO MOUNTAIN BOTANICAL GARDEN
San Bruno Mountain Watch is working to communally create an accessible botanical garden that will introduce park visitors to the unique native flora of San Bruno Mountain and the mountain’s captivating natural and cultural histories.
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, a volunteer group known as the Friends of San Bruno Mountain created a native plant botanical garden near the main entrance of San Bruno Mountain State & County Park, known as the San Bruno Mountain Botanical Garden. Their intent was to create a garden “representing the various native plant communities of San Bruno Mountain.”
The garden grew in beautifully at the beginning but began to fade away after the Friends group disbanded. Today, a few remnant native plants are alive on the site and some metallic botanical signs barely peak out from the ground. Much of the site has been overtaken by the native coyote brush.
We are designing a new San Bruno Mountain Botanical Garden , starting with one hundred of the mountain’s most characteristic native plants.
The garden will be a curated collection of intriguing and meaningful stories, where each plant represents a tale that captures the essence of San Bruno Mountain’s web of life.
We are continually planting and maintaining the garden site, creating section by section. Sign up for an upcoming garden workday!
Sponsors and Partners
The California Garden Clubs, Inc. selected this project as their statewide, 2019-2021 President’s Project and is providing major funding. They raised $22,000 for this project from chapters across the state!
The San Mateo County Parks Foundation generously provided a $4,000 grant in 2020 and $3,000 in 2022.
We are grateful to our community of donors who have enthusiastically supported this effort and the volunteers who have joined garden workdays!
We are thankful for the San Mateo County Parks Department for their collaboration and support, as well as Doug Allshouse, one of the leaders of the original botanical garden, and David Nelson, co-author with Doug of the forthcoming Natural History of the San Bruno Mountains.
