Winter 2021 Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Volume 24, Number 1 - California Garden & Landscape History ...
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Winter 2021 Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Volume 24, Number 1
JOURNAL OF THE CALIFORNIA GARDEN & LANDSCAPE HISTORY SOCIETY
EDEN EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor: Steven Keylon
Editorial Board: Keith Park (Chair), Kate Nowell, Ann Scheid,
Susan Schenk, Libby Simon, Noel Vernon
Regional Correspondents:
Sacramento: Carol Roland-Nawi,
San Diego: Vonn Marie May,
San Francisco Bay Area: Janet Gracyk
Consulting Editors: Marlea Graham, Barbara Marinacci
Graphic Design: designSimple.com
Submissions: Send scholarly papers, articles, and book reviews to the editor:
eden@cglhs.org
Memberships/Subscriptions:
Join the CGLHS and receive a subscription to Eden.
Individual $50 • Family $75
Sustaining $150 and above
Student $20
Nonprofit/Library $50
Visit www.cglhs.org to join or renew your membership.
Or mail check to California Garden & Landscape History Society,
PO Box 220237, Newhall, CA 91322-0237.
Questions or Address Changes: info@cglhs.org
CGLHS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Contents
President: Keith Park
Vice Presidents: Eleanor Cox and Kate Nowell
Recording Secretary: Nancy Carol Carter
Membership Officer: Janet Gracyk
Treasurer: Patrick O’Hara
Directors at large: Antonia Adezio, Kelly Comras, Judy Horton, Kathleen Albert Etter: Humboldt County's Horticultural Genius
Kennedy, Ann Scheid, Libby Simon, Alexis Davis Millar
Past President: Christy O’Hara
Tom Hart................................................................................................................................................... 4
PUBLISHER’S CIRCLE The California Nursery Company Archives - Far and Wide
$2,500 Annually towards the production of Eden Janet Barton....................................................................................................................................... 24
Tracy Conrad
Nancy Carol Carter The Orchards of Yosemite Valley
Palm Springs Preservation Foundation
Keith Park............................................................................................................................................ 34
HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS
VLT Gardner The Camden House Orchard:
Marlea Graham, Editor emerita Historic Survivor of Age, Disease, Drought, Fire, Flood, and Neglect
William A. Grant (Founder)
Barbara Marinacci
David A. Laws..................................................................................................................................... 52
David Streatfield
Twenty-five Years of Eden:
The California Garden & Landscape History Society (CGLHS) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Eden’s Editorial Evolution, Essential Eden, and the Publisher’s Circle
membership organization devoted to celebrating the beauty and diversity of California’s
historic gardens and landscapes; promoting wider knowledge, preservation, and Steven Keylon, Eden Editor............................................................................................................... 68
restoration of California’s historic gardens and landscapes; organizing study visits to
historic gardens and landscapes as well as to relevant archives and libraries; and offering
opportunities for a lively interchange among members at meetings, garden visits, and
2020 Annual Report
other events. Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society (ISBN Donors, New Members, Contributors, Event Organizers and Volunteers
1524-8062) is published quarterly. Subscription is a benefit of CGLHS membership. Christine Edstrom O'Hara.................................................................................................................. 82
© 2021 California Garden & Landscape History Society
Above: Some of the historic apple trees at Yosemite with Half California Garden & Landscape History Society
Dome in the background. P.O. Box 220237, Newhall, CA 91322-0237 | www.cglhs.org An apple blossom from one of the historic apple orchards at Yosemite's Camp Curry.
2 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 3
4 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 5
Albert
Etter
Humboldt County’s
Horticultural Genius
TOM HART
In the German language, “. . . the word self-made man whose contributions to
‘etter’ means a small, irregular patch of horticulture have persevered and blos-
cultivated land situated in a wilderness, somed in the decades since his death.
the same cultivated area being fenced by
a low, broad unhewn stone wall – a veri- Born to Benjamin and Wilhelmina Etter
table emblem of primitiveness. Here is on November 27, 1872, near the Shingle
found the originator [sic] a man who had Springs post office in El Dorado County,
little schooling in schools and books, yet Albert was the eighth of thirteen chil-
exceptional opportunity and aptness in dren. Ten of these children survived
the study of Nature first handed, until he to adulthood. His father was a Swiss
has learned to read Nature as the average immigrant and veteran of the Mexican-
man reads a book.”1 Harold Ellis wrote American War, while his mother was a
these lines about famed Humboldt native of Baden, Germany. The two met
County horticulturist Albert Etter in his while Benjamin was farming in Mis-
1923 article for California Country Life. souri during the Civil War and moved
A true California pioneer in every sense to El Dorado County in 1866. In March
of the word, Etter was a self-taught and of 1876, they uprooted their budding
Previous spread; In this large-format color transparency, Albert Etter sits on a hill overlooking his
orchard at Ettersburg in Humboldt County. Photograph by Gene Hainlin, 1943. Courtesy of the
California Nursery Company - Roeding Collection, Fremont, California.
Left: Portrait of Albert Etter, 1943. Photograph by Gene Hainlin. Courtesy of the California Nursery
Company - Roeding Collection, Fremont, California.
6 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 7
Above: Albert Etter (L) and brother family and resettled on the North Coast propagating dahlia seeds in a search for bent, the teacher furnished much of the interested in breeding dahlias, red cur- stock for a local farmer in the Upper Mat-
August (R) circa 1890. Courtesy of
the Etter Family Archives. of Humboldt County to start a farm. It new varieties.2 inspiration that led to the lad’s subse- rants, and gooseberries. He left school tole Valley, he noticed a vast area of prime
was on this twenty-acre ranch in Fern- quent career.”3 two years later and worked at the home unworked land. “He sent at once for a
Opposite, left: Albert Etter sought dale, California, where Etter found his While plant breeding came naturally to
advice in 1897 from Edward J.
place in Ferndale for the next seven township map of the area and selected
Wickson, who was the Dean true passion. Etter, school did not. He often quoted When Etter was seventeen, fired by the years. At fifteen (1887) he grew his first a parcel that included a stretch of the
of Agriculture at the University the naturalist Louis Agassiz, stating possibilities he saw, he resolved to devote seedling strawberries, from a cross of Mattole River. Then, undaunted by the
of California. Photograph from
Wickson’s 1921 book California Ferndale was an up-and-coming agricul- that he was a student of the University his life to plant breeding. Having read Sharpless x Parry.”5 According to Darrow, depression that gripped the economy in
Nurserymen and the Plant Industry, tural town in the 1870s. Two decades of of Nature where we “study nature, not an article by John Muir on what a man Etter gained access to a unique straw- the 1890s, he secured a contract to cut
1850-1910. logging had cleared most of the Eel River books.” Etter wanted to spend every could do were he to devote his whole berry variety through a sea captain who one hundred cords of wood at seventy-
Opposite, right: Portrait of Albert Valley by then, and the vast alluvial plain moment in the garden. His father Benja- lifetime to the breeding of such a fruit as brought the berry to Eureka from Callao, five cents a cord, and walked twenty-five
Etter, circa 1900. Courtesy of the had been converted to dairy farms and min had his own green thumb and was the apple or plum, young Etter—with Peru. Etter’s exposure to the Peruvian miles to Eureka to file his claim.”6 It is
Etter Family Archives.
cattle ranches. The Etter place was no dif- credited as the first person to grow lentils the hope and the exuberance of youth beach strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, important to note that this account
ferent. Tucked away along Coffee Creek, in Humboldt County, but he found it odd and the cool calculation of a man of sparked an interest in primitive germ- comes from the writer Gladys Smith,
the Etters ran a successful farm before that Albert would rather work with his fifty—decided to found the world’s great- plasm. By cross-breeding known varieties who is the only known person to have
expanding into a dairy operation, and plants than play like the other children. est apple experiment station and only with wild species and their primitive read Etter’s missing autobiography. Other
each of the ten children did their part. Wilhelmina and a local schoolteacher awaited his majority to begin operations. bloodlines, Etter believed he could speed accounts of the story mention a fishing
provided support when it came to Etter’s However, he did not lay by and wait but up the process of creating better hybrids. trip with friends that led to the discovery.
Etter enjoyed farm life. According to passion. “Much of his success in plant instead devoted his every spare moment “Instead of going fishing, one morning,
notes in his autobiography, he was breeding, Etter attributes to an inter- to plant breeding work.4 Etter continued his plant breeding work he shouldered his rifle and took off up
working with plants by the age of three. est sponsored in his youth by a teacher during his teenage years while doing odd a deep ravine by himself. Climbing to
He maintained his own garden by the named ‘Jim’ Dickson, pioneer California George Darrow spoke about Etter’s early jobs for neighboring farmers. While per- the top he discovered the little table land
time he was six and began document- educator, who afterward achieved con- affinity for plant breeding in his 1966 forming one of these odd jobs, he came upon which the ranch lies.”7 Whatever
ing different strains of wheat stalks in his siderable success as a dairy rancher in book, The Strawberry: History, Breeding across the future site of his famous exper- the truth may be, Etter had found his
father’s field. At twelve, he had begun Oregon. Realizing young Etter’s natural and Physiology: “At thirteen [Etter] was iment station. While budding nursery paradise which later would become the
8 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 9
Ettersburg Experiment Place. super homestead.”10 August and George
looked after the stock and horses, while
Etter arrived at his claim in the Upper Albert ran the evaporating plant, can-
Mattole Valley on October 17, 1894, a nery and horticulture department. Fred
date he later serendipitously discovered was the ranch machinist and operated
was National Apple Day. The land was the sawmill. A fifth brother, Walter Etter,
rugged, and he struggled in the early days. eventually made the trek to Ettersburg
Decades later, his wife Katherine noted and helped as an engineer and mechanic.
the difficulties that he had faced: “That
place was a wilderness when they came. In 1897, Etter decided to seek out
They cleaned all that land – chopped the Edward J. Wickson, Dean of Agricul-
trees down and everything. And all by ture at the University of California, to
hand. Even the roads were built by hand. ask about how to get started with apple
And then, too, you have to feed the land hybridization. He wanted to crack the
before you get anything out of it.”8 Herein age-old apple riddle: “From where did
lay Etter’s first significant hurdle. our apples come and how to breed
them.” He wanted to know how our big
The soil on Etter’s new homestead cultivated apples originated. Etter wrote
initially would not sustain plants. Con- of his first encounter with Wickson in
sidering his ambition for this property, he a 1939 letter to the Humboldt Times:
needed to address the problem immedi- “When Prof. E. J. Wickson first heard
ately. A soil specialist at the University of of my ambition to start experiments in
California-Berkeley Agriculture Depart- apple breeding in the hopes of cracking
ment advised Etter to sow lime into the the apple riddle, away back in 1897, he
soil. However, Etter opined that there fell for it at once and did all he could
Opposite: Three of twelve views of
Ettersburg, from Scrapbook of Fancher had to be other less expensive routes. A to help me get started on a long apple
Creek Nurseries, George C. Roeding, neighbor told him to run Angora goats trail that might lead on for a lifetime. He
Manager, Fresno, California. Book 'Keys on the land. The ever-crafty Etter heeded not only sent me all the material avail-
S-T, Grapes-Small Fruits’, 1914. Courtesy
of the California Nursery Company - the advice and built a cheese factory able in apple varieties, over 600 varieties
Roeding Collection, Fremont, California. for the goat milk, using the revenue to but gave me personal encouragement as
Below: From the Ferndale Enterprise, purchase lime and angleworms for the well. Blessed indeed, the young man
October 10, 1917. soil. It was the angleworm to whom he who could count on the approbation
attributed much of his success at Etters- and counsel of a man as wise as Prof.
burg. His brothers aided in that success. Wickson.”11 Wickson directed Charles H.
“With so much activity, Albert needed Shinn, superintendent of the UC-Exten-
help, and his brother August moved to sion system, to send him grafting wood
Ettersburg from the family farm. August of everything available at the Amador
homesteaded a section alongside Albert’s and Paso Robles sub-stations. It was this
plot, doubling the acreage of Ettersburg collection that started Etter on his jour-
Experiment Place.”9 ney of apple hybridization.
George and Fred Etter joined their broth- While his grafted apple trees continued
ers Albert and August shortly after and to mature over the next ten to fifteen
incorporated the Etter Brothers firm. “On years, Etter refocused his efforts on
the rocky meadows, sheep were raised for strawberry breeding. His initial experi-
meat and wool.” A mill was established, ments with Fragaria chiloensis went so
and “forty acres were planted with apple well that he continued searching for wild
trees and ten more with strawberries, and varieties to include in his breeding pro-
they ran their own evaporating plant in grams. Etter wandered the coastal cliffs
which the apples were dried. In addi- from Point Arena to Cape Mendocino,
tion to these commercial ventures, there collecting both wild beach and woodland
were also all the usual homesteading varieties in addition to native variet-
activities, with the ranch raising all their ies from around the world. Subjected
own meat, milk, vegetables, and eggs. for countless generations to drought,
The Etter Brothers ranch was a sort of heat and cold fluctuations, soil sterility,
10 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 11
and alkaline conditions, these varieties the ancestry of many of America’s widely
injected a vigorous gene pool into the grown varieties. The value of Etter’s work
new hybrids. To quote Flaherty, is the attention it drew to the hybrid vigor
and new characters obtainable in crosses
And so it goes from the far ends of of cultivated sorts with F. chiloensis.”13
the earth, from the wild varieties While Ettersburg strawberry varieties are
developed by nature through the hard to come by today, they can be found
ages and from the cultivated types in the gene pool of many commonly
grown by man the Etter brothers grown descendants. Horticulturists used
have recruited the parents for their Etter’s hybrids to create new varieties
hybrid species. In each instance, that are still grown around the world.
they have gone forward from the Some of the more popular descendants
point where nature halted. But are the ‘Northwest’, ‘Huxley’, ‘Fairfax’,
as stated before, they have made ‘Southland’, ‘Corvallis’, ‘Borden’, ‘Lassen’,
nature their partner in their work. ‘Claribel’, and ‘Jubilee’: Darrow noted 38
As put by Albert Etter, ‘We simply specific descendants widely circulated by
set the stage; the insects and nature the 1960s.
do the rest.’ A modest admission,
certainly but such is the way of In addition to his strawberry breeding,
genius.12 Etter continued to work with a variety
of primitive plants. He created hybrid
It was Etter’s plant-breeding genius that species of native clover, grapes, goose-
earned him national recognition by the berries, forest peas, burnet (Sanguisorba
early 1920s. His 1920 Strawberry Catalog minor), Lotus corniculatus, Deschampsia
listed over fifty new varieties. His Etters- elongata [slender hair-grass], rib grass,
burg strawberries gained popularity in carrots, hazelnuts, etc. His work with
New Zealand, Australia and Great Brit- cover crop hybridization earned him an
ain. George Darrow later honored Etter invitation to deliver a series of lectures
as one of the six great breeders of straw- on “Forage Plants” at the Agricultural
berries in the nineteenth-century, noting Department of the University of Califor-
that “one of his varieties is now grown in nia at Davis.
Europe and Australia, and others are in
While returning from a two-week lecture
trip, Etter stopped to visit Luther Bur-
bank in Santa Rosa. The encounter was
documented in the November 13, 1908
issue of the Ferndale Enterprise:
Mr. Etter also informs us that he
paid a visit to Luther Burbank
at Santa Rosa, it being the first
time that he had the pleasure of
meeting Burbank, though they
This page: Three have corresponded on scientific
Images from
Albert Etter’s matters for some times past. Bur- was concerned he prefers it to any other studied and selected, the foundation
1920 Ettersburg bank expressed himself as greatly strawberry he has ever grown, though Mr. was well laid, and all one needs is the
Strawberries
catalog.
pleased to meet his Humboldt Etter believes the Rose Ettersburg is far training to drive them to success,” Etter
contemporary and warmly recom- inferior to some of the newer varieties he opined in a 1922 article for the Pacific
Opposite: The mended Mr. Etter on the lines he
wedding card
has developed in the past season.”15 Rural Press.16 He continued, “Those are
from Albert and is pursuing and the work he has the three essential links to guarantee suc-
Katherine's accomplished.14 While Etter’s fame grew for his strawberry cess, and if success does not materialize
wedding day in
Ferndale, California crosses, his apple orchard was coming the person in charge is to blame.” Etter
on October 18, Etter discussed his prized Rose Ettersburg into maturity. It was time to take a crack had already received some praise for
1924. Courtesy of strawberry, as well. “Mr. Burbank assured
the Etter Family
at the age-old apple riddle. “With a per- his seedlings by 1922. After receiving a
Archives. Mr. Etter that as far as his personal taste fect climate chosen, and the best material shipment of Etter’s seedlings earlier that
12 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 13
year, Edward Wickson remarked, “In our hoped to succeed where others Left: Large-format Kodachrome color
transparency by Gene Hainlin, 1943. Courtesy
judgment, he has already attained things failed, they must go directly to of the California Nursery Company - Roeding
which generations of apple growers have nature for their solution. Conse- Collection, Fremont, California.
not developed. We are glad to put on quently they decided to start right Above: George C. Roeding, Jr. holding peaches,
record this early report of his work which from the beginning, with wild spe- 1940s. George C. Roeding, Jr. owned and
will some day be looked upon as of great cies of the fruit.19 managed the California Nursery for almost fifty
years, starting in 1928. One of the peaches
historic interest.”17 planted in the Roeding Experimental Orchard
As Etter himself stated: was the ‘Fisher’ peach which was an early
ripening peach from Canada. Courtesy of
Much of Etter’s apple-breeding suc- the California Nursery Company - Roeding
cess was due to his use of primitive It is a well established fact in the Collection, Fremont, California.
germplasm. “In strawberry breeding at biology of hybrids that were selfed
Ettersburg, new elements were added or crossed with a variety of similar
to broaden the foundation,” Etter wrote. parentage the progeny is usually
“But in the apple it was necessary to inferiors to the parent stock… But
analyse the species that were in the hybrids can be used most suc-
bloodstream of a variety so it could be cessfully when crossed with pure
intelligently mated to a variety of dis- species or unrelated hybrids. For
similar origin to get best results.”18 Of this reason such varieties as Manx
this work, Flaherty wrote: Coddling, a little hybrid crab
from the Isle of Man and Reinette
As it was the riddle of the apple Ananas, a little orange crab from
that first lured the Etters into the Holland, but bearing a French
field of plant breeding, so it is name, have been so successfully
that much of their work has been used here at Ettersburg. Neither
devoted toward improvement of of these varieties are closely related
that fruit. Attacking the problem to any of our common apples.”20
they decided they must get down
to basic principles, and if they It was for this reason that the ‘Surprise’
14 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 15
As the years passed by, Etter began to eventual partnership with the California Crab’ were added in 1942 and are pos-
feel that his apple breeding work had not Nursery Company in the 1930s. sibly lost to history. George Roeding, Jr.
received its due recognition. While his journeyed to Ettersburg with his photog-
strawberry varieties had become popu- The California Nursery Company was rapher in anticipation of Etter’s debut in
lar around the world, his favorite apples one of the premier nurseries on the their 1944 catalog. It advertised, “Forty-
hadn’t traveled very far from Humboldt West Coast during Etter’s lifetime. Etter six years ago Mr. Etter commenced his
County. He lamented the dilemma: met the owner George C. Roeding at patient search for new apple varieties…
the 1913 Annual Meeting of the Cali- In the course of his work through the
In writing the article about Straw- fornia Association of Nurserymen. “On years, no less than 15,000 crosses were
berry Breeding, in the Year Book, the banquet tables, Geo. C. Roeding of painstakingly made under carefully pre-
Dr. Darrow gave credit for the Smyrna fig and nursery fame, showed evaluated conditions, and more than
work carried on at Ettersburg. half a dozen varieties of remarkably fine 2000 varieties were placed under obser-
But in apple breeding at Etters- new grapes from his experiment vine- vation and test.” The company featured
burg, Prof. Magnuss made no yard, . . . [?]” Etter wrote.24 The orchard seven different varieties in their catalogs
mention whatever, though it is notes from the California Nursery over the years, including the ‘Pink Pearl’,
not possible he could have been Company archives in Niles referenced ‘Wickson’, ‘Jonwin’, ‘Alaska’, ‘All Gold’
ignorant of what had been going planting the first Etter apple test varieties (later renamed ‘Etter’s Gold’), ‘Humboldt
on, because the information in 1932. ‘Pink Pearl’ and ‘Crimson Gold’ Crab’, and ‘Crimson Gold.’25
asked for had been forwarded to arrived in 1936, along with a multitude
Dr. Darrow as requested.”23 of other varieties through 1942. Sus- Etter had set out to answer the age-old
pected red-fleshed varieties such as a ‘Big apple riddle, and by his early 60s, he
It was these concerns that led to Etter’s Pink Wickson’ and ‘Red Juicy Golden believed the mission complete. “After
Above: Albert Etter met George C. apple most likely stood out to Etter. Apple and became an integral part of the
Roeding at the California Association
of Nurserymen Conference in 1913. growers had long scorned the red-fleshed homestead in the decades to come. The
Etter is front row, seated fourth from apple as a novelty with no real redeeming rambunctious and diminutive woman is
left. Roeding and Edward J. Wickson
are seated at front near the center. factors, but Etter was not one to follow still fondly remembered by residents of
Photograph from Transactions and commonly held beliefs. He had already present-day Ettersburg. “You know some
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting
of the California Association of
developed an interest in pink-fleshed people think that people who live on a
Nurserymen, 1913. hybrids through his work with the ‘Rose farm or ranch live the life of Riley. They
Ettersburg’ strawberries, so it was only do like heck. You gotta work hard out
Opposite: Two of four pages of George
C. Roeding, Jr’s notes titled “Apples natural that the ‘Surprise’ apple became there,” Katherine said.21
Observed Ettersburg 10/41." The a focus for Etter. The bloodlines of the
asterisks are next to apples “Final
inclusion in catalogue and nursery ‘Surprise’ apple trace back to a wild apple And work hard Etter did, as he crossed
propagate.” In 1941, Roeding and grown in Kazakhstan, the ‘Niedzwetzky- tens of thousands of seedlings during
Charles Burr took a trip to visit Etter, but
mis-judged the time it would take to get ana’. Its primitive germplasm combined his apple breeding program at Etters-
to Ettersburg. By the time they arrived, with beautiful color provided the impe- burg. He grew the seedlings in nursery
it was dark, as Burr later recalled, “…Mr.
Etter had to get out a Coleman lantern
tus for Etter to begin his experimentation rows for two or three years. Trees that
while we were inspecting all of the fruit with a whole new line of red-fleshed showed satisfactory growth were then
samples he had assembled in his barn. apple hybrids. He hoped that someday grafted onto the top of a large tree out in
We got back to Garberville at 9 p.m.
- full of apples. We managed a small these apples would grace the menus of the orchard. Etter noted that some trees
supper and went right to bed.” Courtesy the best restaurants in San Francisco. grew as many as four hundred varieties.
of the California Nursery Company -
Roeding Collection, Fremont, California. Each branch was kept within its own
Fortuitously, it was on one of his many bounds, but this made for an endless
trips to San Francisco that Etter met his and exhausting amount of precision
future bride. Originally from Newark, pruning each year. “The final proofs are
New Jersey, Katherine McCormack fell delayed, because these comparatively
for the lanky horticulturist who was small limbs must again be grafted into
sixteen years her senior. The couple mar- other trees for more extensive trial. On
ried at the Ferndale Catholic Church on the other hand, the more promising
October 18, 1924, almost thirty years to varieties are given the tree by removal
the day from his arrival in Ettersburg. of the inferior ones,” Etter added.22
Katherine soon moved to Ettersburg
16 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 17
careful study of over 600 varieties and
the growing and fruiting of thousands
of seedlings, Mr. Etter says there is no
such thing as a riddle… All apples are
just crabapples, and all crabapples, even
though no larger than a currant, are
apples! All our fine varieties of apples
are just hybrids.”26
The final decade of Etter’s life was marked
by the same busy pace as his early years.
The harvest of 1945 was no different, as
Etter explained to a pen pal. “Your letter
of October 17 arrived, but I was so busy
picking apples that I just couldn’t write to
you then. I am seventy-two years old now
and I never worked harder in my life than
I did last year when haying started in…”27
Etter had ceased strawberry breeding
in 1926, and his focus in later years
was dedicated solely to the orchards.
He worked with his brother August to
hybridize cherries, plums, pears, walnuts,
chestnuts and hazelnuts and planted
them amongst his apple trees. A visitor
in those later years remarked about the
beauty of the homestead:
In the midst of a wilderness sur-
rounded by a wilderness, he and
a brother, August, have created
an earthly paradise, the work-
shop in which they play strange
tricks upon the flora of the world.
In this workshop involving a few
acres of southern Humboldt land,
the brothers have labored and
experimented for close on half
a century, pitting their ingenuity
and patience against nature in a Opposite: Albert Etter was
new ‘origin of species.’ Hardly pit- Etter survived until his 77th National featured prominently on the cover
Apple Day and passed away on Novem- of the 1944 California Nursery
ting – that word is a misnomer. Company Orchard & Garden
Rather they work with nature, ber 18, 1950. He was buried in the family Book, when his apples made their
make nature their partner in this plot at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Ferndale. debut. Courtesy of the California
Nursery Company - Roeding
intriguing enterprise which they After Albert Etter’s passing, his brother Collection, Fremont, California.
have found life careers… The August maintained the orchard until he,
too, passed away in 1960. Above: Back cover of the 1946
visitor is confronted with trees Orchard and Garden Book,
so heavily laden that it would be the year that the “Peace” rose
impossible to find room for more Katherine remained at the homestead, was introduced on the cover.
Every issue thereafter, until 1970
fruit on the same tree. The amaz- working as postmaster at the Ettersburg (including the Spanish language
ing thing is that on the same tree, General Store. It was at the general store catalogs) carried Etter’s apples.
Courtesy of the California Nursery
hundreds of different varieties that Katherine met horticulturist and Etter Company - Roeding Collection,
grow side by side, furnishing odd enthusiast Gladys Smith in 1965. After Fremont, California.
contrasts in shape and color and Gladys introduced herself, Katherine
general characteristics.28
18 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 19Above: The advertising art that . . . ran down the hill towards Smith used the materials from Etter’s
accompanied boxes of apple from the
Ettersburg orchard. Courtesy of Brian the Mattole River. Soon she was own writings when she published her
Doyle and the Etter Family Archives. back with a large manila envelope 1995 article in Pacific Horticulture
Opposite top: One of the wagons that
stuffed with photographs, news- Magazine: Albert Felix Etter, Hybridizer.
Albert used to take his apples to market paper articles, handwritten notes, Unfortunately, the whereabouts of these
still sits along the former barn site at and papers. A sheaf of typewritten historic documents, including Etter’s
Ettersburg. Photo taken July 2019 by
the author. pages proved to be Etter’s autobi- autobiography, currently is unknown.
ography, strangely written in the (Hopefully, they will turn up some day!)
Opposite bottom left: Enjoying a red- third person as though he were on
fleshed apple hybrid during harvest
2019. The apples are currently used the sidelines watching his life go Etter’s apple varieties may have been
to make Humboldt Cider Company's by. I protested that I was a stranger overlooked by growers during his life-
"Albert's Experiment," a dry heirloom
apple cider released each winter. Photo and should not take the material, time, but they continue to grow in
taken October 2019 by the author. but Mrs. Etter would have none popularity throughout the country. The
Opposite bottom right: The former
of it. ‘I trust you. You take it,’ she ‘Waltana’ became a popular eating apple
orchard site is now part of a pasture insisted, looking more like a ner- across Humboldt County by the 1950s
for French Ranch Farms. These two vous young girl than the widow and can still be found in local grocery
bovines were eager to help with the
harvest. Photo taken October 2019 by of an elderly man. I accepted the stores each fall. ‘Wickson’ (also known as
the author. envelope with thanks, returned ‘Wickson Crab’) is currently grown from
to my car, and drove home to coast to coast and has become one of the
Redway.29 premier American cider apples. Etter’s
prediction came true as ‘Pink Pearl’ is
20 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 21now served in the best restaurants and two fallen trees were successfully propa- projects documenting historic home-
bakeries from San Francisco to New York gated prior to their demise. stead and mining orchards.
and has inspired a new generation of red-
fleshed apple enthusiasts. The remaining orchard consists of Tom currently manages Albert Etter’s
twenty-six pear and sixty-eight apple original homestead orchard in addi-
In addition to the ‘Pink Pearl’, an entire trees. Large, small, round, square, red, tion to a small nursery, the Humboldt
series of red-fleshed apples was saved green, pink, white: the apples and pears Heritage Tree Repository. The repository
from the homestead site during the 1970s still come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. focuses on preserving fruit tree germ-
and 80s. At the time, Ram Fishman settled Scattered amongst the orchard’s perim- plasm from historic sites throughout
with his wife and three young children on eter, one can find chestnuts, walnuts, the North Coast. Its partnership with
a parcel a few miles from the homestead. hazelnuts, and plums. The occasional Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
They made it a hobby to return to the rainbow-colored daffodil still sprouts recently helped save nearly two dozen
orchard yearly to inventory and evaluate outside the former site of Etter’s log cabin varieties from nineteenth-century mining
the hundreds of unnamed test variet- in the spring, while the trusty wagon orchards heavily damaged by the Carr
ies still bearing fruit on the aging trees. that took his fruits to market has slowly Fire.
Out of this effort came seven red-fleshed worked its way back into the land. Giant
varieties and additional hybrids that were sequoia, palm, and monkey puzzle trees
re-introduced through the Fishmans’ have long since grown to provide their
Greenmantle Nursery Catalog. Without intended shade next to Etter’s homesite
Greenmantle Nursery, many of these vari- and stand out amongst the backdrop of
eties would have been lost forever. rolling hills and sparse woodland. Etter
may not have walked these grounds for
Thirty years after Ram’s last forays to the last seventy years, but his spirit still
the homestead, the orchard is now in resides amongst the trees.
the initial restoration phases. The cur-
rent owners, Marty & Maurie Hobbs of ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
French Ranch Farms, reached out to my
business, Humboldt Cider Company, Tom Hart is a co-owner of Humboldt
in 2018 about purchasing some apples Cider Company in Eureka, Caliifor-
from an old orchard on their property. nia. He graduated from the University Left: Artist Eldon Deye created
It was a fortuitous encounter since, as a of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009 with this drawing of Albert Etter
local history and apple enthusiast, I had degrees in History and Political Science. surrounded by his “Etter’s
Gold” apples which was used
already been researching Albert Etter. I Tom fell in love with Northern Califor- in newspaper advertising
have mapped the orchard since then, and nia during a college road trip and moved by the California Nursery
Company in 1946. Original
we are in the process of cleaning up the from Chicago to Humboldt County in Drawing of Albert Etter, apple
trees and identifying individual grafts. Of 2011. His work with the cider company hybridizer, "Etter's Gold."
the original ninety-six trees mapped in has allowed him to combine his passions Courtesy of Washington
Township Museum of Local
early 2019, ninety-four remain, and the for history and apples and lead to his History, Fremont, California.
Endnotes 9 Smith, 17.
10 Raphael, 138.
21 Raphael, 140.
22 Etter, “Apple Breeding at Ettersburg,” 740.
1 Harold Ellis, “Plant Breeding History at Ettersburg Reads As 11 Albert F. Etter, “Breeding the Apple. A Lesson in Industry,” 23 Etter, “Breeding the Apple. A Lesson in Industry,”
Strange As Tale of Fiction", Ferndale Enterprise, November Humboldt Times, September 24, 1939. Unpaginated unpaginated.
23, 1923, 3. Ellis’ article had been previously published in newspaper clipping.
24 Albert F. Etter, “Interesting Letter From Albert Etter”
Country Life. 12 Flaherty, “unpaginated. Ferndale Enterprise, October 24, 1913, 1.
2 Gladys L. Smith, “Albert Felix Etter, Hybridizer,” Pacific 13 Darrow, 186. 25 From 1944 to 1970, Etter’s apples were sold by the
Horticulture, Volume 56 No. 2. Summer, 1995, 17. California Nursery Company, in both the English and the
14 “Lectured at Davis School” Ferndale Enterprise, November
3 E. F. Flaherty, “Etter Bros Create Earthly Paradise,” Humboldt Spanish editions of the catalogs.By 1970, Crimson Gold and
13, 1908, 5.
Standard, June 23, 1934, unpaginated newspaper clipping. Humboldt had been dropped from the original seven apples.
15 Ibid.
4 Ellis, 3. The Wickson apple made it to the end and was included in
16 Albert F. Etter, “Apple Breeding at Ettersburg,” Pacific Rural the pared-down list of apples available in the 1970 Orchard
5 George M. Darrow, The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Press, December 30, 1922, 740. & Garden Book, which included Alaska, Etter’s Gold, Jonwin,
Physiology, (The New England Institute for Medical Research, Pink Pearl, and Wickson.
1966), 184. 17 Etter, “Breeding the Apple. A Lesson in Industry"
unpaginated. 26 Etter, “Breeding the Apple. A Lesson in Industry,
6 Smith, 17. unpaginated.
18 Ibid.
7 Flaherty, unpaginated. 27 Smith, 19.
19 Flaherty, unpaginated.
8 Ray Raphael, An Everyday History of Somewhere, (Alfred 28 Flaherty, unpaginated.
A. Knopf, 1974), 140. 20 Etter, “Breeding the Apple. A Lesson in Industry,”
unpaginated. 29 Smith, 17.
22 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 23The California
Nursery Company
Archives -
Far and Wide
JANET BARTON
About seven years ago, I started volun- could find out. Albert Etter’s apples in- Left: This large-format color transparency from
teering in the historic nursery gardens trigued me because the nursery’s story the 1940s shows how apples purchased at the
California Nursery Company might be used.
at the California Nursery Historical was intertwined with his story. The Images like this often appeared in California
Park, a city park in Fremont, Califor- Roeding Experimental Orchard was a Nursery Company catalogs. Courtesy of
the California Nursery Company - Roeding
nia. The park is the last twenty acres stop on my Fruit/Nuts park tour, and Collection, Fremont, California.
of the 463-acre nursery established the story of Etter’s apples was a high-
in Niles, now a district of Fremont, light for tour groups. Above: Rock’s Nurseries in San Jose, California.
John Rock came from Germany in 1857 and
in 1884. My interest in the California established Rock’s Nurseries in the Santa Clara
Nursery Company’s history grew as I Mr. Etter’s apples are not readily avail- Valley after fighting in the Civil War. The 1877
catalog for Rock’s Nurseries advertised “Fruit
wondered about the old trees, the his- able, so our home orchard now has and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Roses, Plants,
toric display gardens, and the Yellow several Etter apples obtained from Etc.” Rock continued operations at his San Jose
nursery after the establishment of the California
Windmill in the middle of a rose gar- scion exchanges. The Wickson crab, Nursery Company (1884). His activities can
den. I started looking at the old nurs- named after one of my favorite horti- be followed in newspapers, state records, and
ery catalogs, old records and talking culturalists, is one of my all-time fa- books. I created a Wikipedia page for John
Rock hoping we would find his descendants.
to people to find out more about this vorite apples. I finally tasted the red- We were thrilled to be contacted by a relative
historic nursery and its gardens. fleshed ‘Pink Pearl’ last summer. I can’t from Germany who had letters from Johannes
Rock to his parents. The letters cover the period
wait to taste another. of his immigration to New York in 1857 when he
Park legend was that there were two worked in a nursery in Rochester, to his years
Etter apple trees left from the old In 2019 Keith Park, now CGLHS in San Jose, California and then later in Niles.
Rock's Nursery, photo dated March 8, 1877.
Roeding orchard. I saw them in 2013, president, told me about Tom Courtesy of the California Nursery Company -
and unfortunately, they died before I Hart’s work in Albert Etter’s or- Roeding Collection, Fremont, California.
24 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 25chard in Ettersburg. When I heard were used in the catalog.
that Tom had delved into Mr. Etter’s
history, I knew that he would appre- These photos and documents of Albert
ciate some of the items from the park Etter for the archives were collected
archives. I sent Tom the color movie over the years from various locations
from 1934 of Mr. Etter and his frisky around town. As I worked on other
calf. I also showed him that there were projects, I always noted any informa-
some large-format color transparen- tion about Mr. Etter and anything else
cies taken in Ettersburg. I sent scans of of future interest. I have been roaming
orchard books that listed the fifty Etter the archives for many years, and now
varieties tested in Niles. One orchard have a good understanding of what is
book contains about forty apples seen in the archives. For new projects, one
and tasted on a trip to Ettersburg in must first understand what is avail-
Above: John Rock with two children in
October of 1941. This trip was orga- able and where these historic nursery
the late 1890s. Rock was very famous nized to help decide which would be documents are located in the city of
in his day but is not well known today. the final six apples to patent and to in- Fremont.
Rock’s specimen orchard in Niles was
planted to determine the best fruit clude in the 1944 catalog. A seventh
and nut varieties to grow in California. was introduced in the 1945 catalog. The Widespread Archives of the
At one time he had a collection of
about seventy varieties of figs and California Nursery Company
156 varieties of olives. The specimen When I found out that Tom was writ-
orchard was one reason that George ing an article on Albert Etter for Eden, The California Nursery Company ar-
C. Roeding bought the nursery in
1917. Roeding described Rock’s I showed Steven Keylon, Eden's editor, chives are large, complex, and spread
specimen orchard in “Budwood, scions the color portrait of Mr. Etter, which I out in several locations. They cover the
and cuttings, writing the orchard,”
(embraced over 1000 varieties) from had scanned on my new slide scanner. period from 1865 to the 1980s. They
record performance fruit trees.” Roses, I cannot precisely quote him but suf- cover several horticulturalist/nursery-
palms, ornamental trees, and shrubs of fice it to say he was very impressed. men who were well-known in their
all kinds were also sold. Photo courtesy
Washington Township Museum of Local The color photo of Mr. Etter is breath- time. The nurseries were in Fresno,
History California Revealed collection. taking. As far as I know, this photo was Niles (now a district of Fremont), and
Opposite page: George C. Roeding, never used in a catalog, and this is the San Jose. The archives contain several
Sr. holding several bare root trees, first time it has been published. There nurseries that existed prior to 1917
Fresno, 1910. Courtesy of the California were about ten photos of Ettersburg when George C. Roeding purchased
Nursery Company - Roeding Collection,
Fremont, California. that I could find, but we know more the established California Nursery
26 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 27tals trade in California from 1865 to
1970
• Nursery records for experimentation
with roses, ornamentals, and orchard
trees (fruit, fig, olive, nuts)
• Plant exploration in Europe and Tur-
key in the late 1800s to early 1900s
- fig, olives, bulbs, and roses. Plants in-
troduced from Asia, Australia, Africa,
and elsewhere.
• The growth of the wholesale and re-
tail nursery trade from 1865 on. The
development of the nursery’s land-
scape design business.
• Cooperation with the USDA and
state horticultural departments. Nurs-
erymen Associations.
• Plant lists for various landscaping,
nursery trades, and orchard projects
- in California, the US, Mexico, and
other countries. For example, Hearst
Ranch, Filoli, the state Capitol, World’s
Above: George C. Roeding with his Company in Niles and combined it search, I gained an understanding and Fairs in the US and Europe, State Fairs,
horse, Phil, at the Fancher Creek with his own companies in Fresno and appreciation of the deep resources for
Nursery in Fresno in 1902. In 1907 public gardens, cemeteries, orchards,
George C. Roeding, alongside Luther elsewhere. This consolidation must researchers of the history of California U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, suburban
Burbank, was pictured on the front have made it one of the largest nursery horticulture - where to look and what
page of the Pacific Rural Press which
homes, and much more.
described them as “Two Famous corporations in its time. to look for. • Projects and plans of landscape pro-
California Horticulturalists.” At the fessionals and their clients, nurseries,
time he was owner/manager of the The breakup of the California Nursery What is contained in the
Fancher Creek Nursery. The California and horticulturalists - 1887 to 1920.
Nursery park archives have many of Company in the 1970s did not allow archives? Names like Ralph Cornell, Theodore
his Fancher Creek scrapbooks with time to save all the documents from
photos of plants that were included
Payne, Gustavus Eisen, the Misses
in catalogs, photos of his travels in the nursery. Many historic documents Besides palm history, apple history, and Worn, Ernest Benard, Nigel Keep, Mac-
Europe, and photos of the fig-growing were lost, sold, or destroyed. Luckily, world’s fair history, what else is there? Rorie-McLaren Co., John McLaren, Carl
regions of Turkey. He was known as
the “Fig Man” because he played a
several people recognized the need to Purdy, Albert Etter, Luther Burbank,
big part in the discovery of the fig save these records that go back to 1865 Suppose you are researching the history William Randolph Hearst, Phoebe Ap-
wasp that pollinated the Smyrna fig. and tell many stories about the history of a garden, landscape, or horticulture
Courtesy of the California Nursery person Hearst, Eugene W. Hilgard, E.J.
Company - Roeding Collection, of horticulture, viticulture, and agricul- in California, the US, or other coun- Wickson, James Shinn, Charles How-
Fremont, California. ture in California. The nursery docu- tries. In that case, you may find some- ard Shinn, and many more.
Opposite: From the 1930s to the
ments had no single place to go, so they thing of interest. The history covers: • Photographs and movies taken on
1960s, the California Nursery are spread all about the town of Fre- foreign trips, nursery operations, do-
Company had an annual spring mont. Some records have been in poor • Horticulturalists/Nurserymen: John
bulb show and summer rose shows. mestic trips, family life in California
Singers in “Old California” storage conditions for half a century Rock (1836-1904) founded Rock’s and Hawaii.
costumes entertained in the “Old and are only recently coming to light! Nurseries in the Santa Clara Valley. In • The effect of current events on the
Adobe” garden. Girls and young
women dressed in Dutch outfits
1884 he and his partners founded the nursery business - wars, the Transcon-
and helped visitors in the display The first time I made the grand tour California Nursery Company. George tinental railroad, plant pests and dis-
gardens. Pictured at the front gate of of the California Nursery archives of C. Roeding (1868-1928) took over
the nursery (and now the entrance eases, prohibition, City Beautiful, the
to the park) are William L. Thorne (an Fremont was in 2013. I was on a quest his family’s nursery in Fresno, Fancher Garden City, labor, immigration, and
uncle and an actor on stage and in the to solve an old palm tree mystery: how Creek Nursery (1884-~1933), and had immigration restrictions
movies), George C. Roeding Jr., and
son, Jerry, on Four-bits. The famous
did 175 fully-grown palms cross the several other businesses and nurseries. • The Roeding family history - from
Yellow Windmill appeared in the San Francisco Bay to be planted at the George C. Roeding, Jr. (1928-1971) Frederick Roeding (1824-1910), who
gardens in the 1930s. Courtesy of the Avenue of Palms at the 1915 Panama- took over management of the Califor-
California Nursery Company - Roeding came from Germany to California to
Collection, Fremont, California. Pacific International Exposition? No nia Nursery Company (1926-1970s) the Roeding children who were the
stone was left unturned in my search and had operations and outlets all over last generation of the nursery (Bruce,
for photos, ledgers, letter books, and the state. George III, Jerry, and Diane).
scrapbooks across town. From that • The fruit, rose, palm, and ornamen-
28 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 29Opposite: The fourth generation of Roeding Where to search? Roeding, Dr. Joyce Blueford, and oth- ledgers, scrapbooks. See the Internet
family nurserymen is shown in this 1953 photo,
in front of a California Nursery Company truck. ers have been working for many years - Archive California Revealed project:
From left, Bruce, Jerry Roeding, and George Currently all of these resources are not saving, collecting, cleaning, identifying, “The Washington Township Museum
III (Sandy). Today, Mr. Bruce Roeding is the and organizing the many items. Sev- of Local History.” Search for “California
family historian and you can ask him just
all in one place and generally they are
about anything and he will give you an answer. not available online. Here is a rough eral exhibits have been created and are Nursery.” Kelsey Camello and Patricial
Courtesy of the California Nursery Company - guide and contact information for the in the museum at the park (currently Schaffarczyk have submitted thousands
Roeding Collection, Fremont, California.
archive locations with notations of on- closed). Some useful items are online. of local history items to the California
Below: In 1965 the nursery celebrated its line availability: A handy sorted list of catalogs from Revealed project, with more items re-
centennial year with this fruitful California
catalog cover. On the back cover, George C.
1884 to 1961 are on the website of the lated to the California Nursery Com-
Roeding, Jr. wrote: “The firm under each of its The archives at the California California Nursery Garden Club. Addi- pany coming soon. The Chinese His-
administrations, has introduced and developed Nursery Historical Park. tional catalogs up to 1970 will be added tory Project researches and presents the
many of the fruit, grape, and ornamental
varieties now being grown in our Golden This is the largest archive by far and next year up on the Internet Archive, history of the Chinese-Americans who
State. These tree and plant varieties were the it is still growing with items that have California Revealed project under “Cal- lived and worked in the area, includ-
foundation, in large measure, of California’s fruit been tucked away for half a century:
and horticulture industries.” This 1965 catalog is
ifornia Nursery Company - Roeding ing those who worked for the Califor-
not currently available online, but was accepted catalogs, photos, ledgers, letter books, Collection.”. The catalogs from 1945 to nia Nursery Company since it began in
to be scanned for the 2020/2021 California scrapbooks, business records, orchard 1970 contain Etter’s apples. Under the 1884. [Contact collections@museumof-
Revealed program.
records, and family records. Bruce same California Revealed collection, localhistory.org]
there are 42 movies from the 1930s to
the 1960s. The “frisky calf” movie in Et- In a sense the park itself is a fourth,
tersburg is #32. but horticultural, archive.
Historic trees, shrubs, and roses still
The Roeding Room at the Fremont grow here. Today there are old olives,
Main branch of the Alameda County loquats, persimmons, figs, apricots,
Library. roses, palms, one apple, and ornamen-
The shipping records, which entail tal shrubs and trees. Some were planted
about 200 letter books and ledgers, are in the time of John Rock, 1884-1904.
a goldmine for researchers. The nurs- Some were planted in the heyday of the
ery records for Fancher Creek Nursery spring bulbs shows and rose shows of
and California Nursery Company from the 1930s-1960s. We’ve stumped many
1884 to 1920 contain the plant lists for a rosarian with some of some of our ros-
many projects, gardens, estates, nurser- es. The ‘Niles Cochet’ (1906) is one of
ies, and institutions in California, the the most famous nursery introductions.
US, and abroad: roses, palms, orchard
trees, conifers, and ornamental trees There is nothing that I like more than
and shrubs. Scrapbooks of newspaper sharing this history of the early nurser-
articles help track the history of the ies and horticultural activities in the state
1930s. History librarian, Janet Cron- and beyond. You can find me on the
bach, has been very supportive of the “CGLHS member forum” on Facebook
history of our city. We have co-pro- or you may contact me by email. (cali-
duced several history exhibits with her. fornianurserygardenclub@gmail.com).
[Contact aclibrary.org/locations/FRM/]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The Washington Township Museum
of Local History. Janet Barton earned a BA in Biology
The museum is in the district of the old at U.C. Berkeley. After graduation, tions than answers about the histories is incredibly happy to have discovered
Mission San José, established in 1797. she worked for five years in the Plant of local parks. To fill that gap, Barton CGLHS at the San Francisco History
The museum has the histories of the Pathology Department at Berkeley in has been documenting the accounts Days. She is on the leisurely track to
mission and the nurseries that followed, Hilgard Hall. After obtaining another of local gardens, nurseries, immigrant a degree in Landscape Architecture at
including Shinn’s Nurseries. Some in- degree in computer science, Barton stories, and railroad history ever since. Merritt College. Barton picked up the
formation about the California Nurs- became a software engineer at IBM for She maintains these histories on blogs, Aesthetic Pruning award and has been
ery Company is available here. There thirty years. The second she retired, park Facebook pages, various web- involved in the Japanese garden com-
are some very important and unique she started volunteering in the gardens sites, Wikipedia, library exhibits, and munity through the North American
items: ledgers, letter books, orchard at two historical parks in Fremont articles (j3barton.tumblr.com). Bar- Japanese Garden Association and Mer-
books, catalogs, catalog artwork, and and found a welcoming community ton is an active member of four his- ritt College.
photos. Many items are online: photos, of gardeners. There were more ques- torical organizations in Fremont and
30 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Winter 2021 • Vol. 24, No. 1 31You can also read
