Gardens and Cultural

Landscapes
 
 

Gardens and Cultural Landscapes

Art, nature, and culture intersect in gardens, and they have been sources of inspiration and study for centuries. But people are also inspired by natural environments, landscapes that evolve as human activity shapes them, sites associated with historic events, parks, and sacred places.

The term, cultural landscapes, is defined in various ways by organizations such as the United States Department of the Interior’s National Park Service, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and UNESCO, but generally it encompasses gardens and many other kinds of built environments that illuminate aspects of our history and relationship with nature.

Vegetation and plant materials are character-defining features of cultural landscapes, which often contribute to their spatial qualities, historic significance, and integrity.

California’s Natural Landscape

California is isolated by the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the Pacific Ocean, and several deserts. Known by the Spanish colonizers as Alta California, its landmass and southern most plant communities extend into Baja California, Mexico (also colonized by the Spanish.)

Much of the coast and the islands have a Mediterranean climate (winter wet-summer dry) and are subtropical (mild with only brief periods of freezing temperatures.) Many of California’s native plants are unique, and others have analogues in the Old World Mediterranean region, such as quercus, salvia, and artemisia.

The native California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) is the state flower.

California’s Cultural Landscapes and Gardens

From the Spanish era to the present, grazing livestock, agricultural patterns, buildings, fire suppression, water systems, roads, and numerous plants introduced from other regions (“exotics”) have transformed the natural landscape into the cultural landscape we see today. It is not uncommon to find exotic plants that have naturalized or invaded. In some cases (particularly grasses) these invasive plants have completely altered the look of the landscape and threatened native plant communities.

Outline of California Cultural Landscape History

Native American/Indian & native plants (before 1542)

First European-Native American contact (1542)
Note: prior to this is considered “prehistoric” because there is no written record

Spanish colonization & plant introductions (1769-c.1833)

Mexican/Californio ranchos (c.1833-1850) more plants introduced

American period—numerous introduced plants (1850-present)

 
 

 

The labyrinth of pathways typical of California's Spanish-era cultural landscape is preserved between these two Santa Barbara houses, where a foot path remains a public right of way.  The pathway system was eliminated in the American period when a gridiron street pattern was laid out.  "Spanish style" houses and gardens shown here are also American.  Photo Susan Chamberlin © 1999

The gardens of the Cooper-Molera Adobe were designed by Monterey’s Historic Garden League to include plants popular in California before 1865. This yellow Lady Banks rose (Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’) was introduced prior to the American period in California history.
Photo © Susan Chamberlin, 2000

The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve protects the State flower (Eschscholzia californica) and other wildflowers in the western Mojave Desert, a high desert grassland habitat near Lancaster. Pronghorn antelope grazed here until recreational hunters eliminated them after the railroad arrived in the region in the 1880s.
Photo © Joel Michaelsen, 2008