San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
The origins of the world-famous Golden Gate Park date back to the 1860's when San Franciscans decided that a large urban recreational space of their own, similar to Central Park then being developed in New York, was called for. At 1,017 acres it's actually a bit larger than its inspiration and is today one of the three most visited public parks in the United States.
The Botanical Garden was laid out in the 1890's, but funding was short until Helene Strybing died in 1926 and left much-needed money for the project in her will. Planting in the 55-acre arboretum started in 1937 with WPA funds and local donations. Today it contains more than 7,500 species.
The arboretum is also home to the Helen Crocker Russell Library, the largest horticultural library in Northern California. Additional horticultural attractions include the Conservatory, the Japanese Garden, the Hall of Flowers, once the official address of the American Fuchsia Society, and... the Fuchsia Dell.
Unfortunately, the once-glorious Fuchsia Dell has suffered considerably due to the damages of the fuchsia gall mite and the death of its founder and inspiration. And incessant trampling in the planting beds by inconsiderate park users. Most of the area has been given over to stretches of Fuchsia denticulata and paniculata, both resistant to the gall mite. Luckily, the lilac-like clusters of F. paniculata are especially attractive to hummingbirds so you're sure to be scolded and amused by dozens darting about when the bushes are in full bloom in recompense.
Unluckily, the fuchsias also seem highly attractive to Bridezilla dealbata and it's not unusual that the peace of the Dell be broken by the sudden arrival of a huge borrowed omnibus disgorging its wedding party and all the customary accoutrements. On second thought, perhaps the paths through the Dell's slopes were simply beaten by the startled and frightened, desperate to get away: Time to high-tail it back over to the arboretum in that event.
The fuchsia gall mite (Aculops fuchsiae) was first identified in San Francisco in 1981. It had somehow hitched a ride into the area from Brazil about 1980 to start affecting local fuchsias. Its characteristic deformations that are essentially shelters for the mite. The minuscule pests radiated from there, carried by hummingbirds and bees. The elegant and beautiful F. magellanica cultivars, which had flourished almost as well in San Francisco and coastal California as they do in the hedgerows of Ireland, are unfortunately highly susceptible to the mite. F. magellanica genes are also in the most popular and widespread cultivars, such a ‘Swingtime’ and ‘Dark Eyes.’ Because of the ugly contortions, many fuchsias were simply pulled out.
This is where Dr. Peter Baye and the San Francisco Botanical Garden have come to the rescue.
Baye, a botanist at the SFBG, studied the issue with growers and eventually helped determine that a regular maintenance program of gall removal and treatment with pesticides could keep the new pest under control. But that’s certainly a lot of effort for a once almost care-free shrub in the regular home garden and the use of poisons can have repercussions beyond the pest at hand. He set out to breed new cultivars or re-create old ones using plants and species immune or highly resistant to the fuchsia gall mite. It’s not that the mites aren’t present, it’s just that the plants won’t develop those characteristic, disfiguring galls in response. Baye has since left the SFBG but work continues.
There are now quite a number of attractive gall-mite resistant plants available—with a good number on display in the SFBG—and I hope that the almost iconic flower of the City of Fuchsias by the Bay will eventually return to its former prominence. Thank you SFBG!
The Botanical Garden was laid out in the 1890's, but funding was short until Helene Strybing died in 1926 and left much-needed money for the project in her will. Planting in the 55-acre arboretum started in 1937 with WPA funds and local donations. Today it contains more than 7,500 species.
The arboretum is also home to the Helen Crocker Russell Library, the largest horticultural library in Northern California. Additional horticultural attractions include the Conservatory, the Japanese Garden, the Hall of Flowers, once the official address of the American Fuchsia Society, and... the Fuchsia Dell.
Unfortunately, the once-glorious Fuchsia Dell has suffered considerably due to the damages of the fuchsia gall mite and the death of its founder and inspiration. And incessant trampling in the planting beds by inconsiderate park users. Most of the area has been given over to stretches of Fuchsia denticulata and paniculata, both resistant to the gall mite. Luckily, the lilac-like clusters of F. paniculata are especially attractive to hummingbirds so you're sure to be scolded and amused by dozens darting about when the bushes are in full bloom in recompense.
Unluckily, the fuchsias also seem highly attractive to Bridezilla dealbata and it's not unusual that the peace of the Dell be broken by the sudden arrival of a huge borrowed omnibus disgorging its wedding party and all the customary accoutrements. On second thought, perhaps the paths through the Dell's slopes were simply beaten by the startled and frightened, desperate to get away: Time to high-tail it back over to the arboretum in that event.
The fuchsia gall mite (Aculops fuchsiae) was first identified in San Francisco in 1981. It had somehow hitched a ride into the area from Brazil about 1980 to start affecting local fuchsias. Its characteristic deformations that are essentially shelters for the mite. The minuscule pests radiated from there, carried by hummingbirds and bees. The elegant and beautiful F. magellanica cultivars, which had flourished almost as well in San Francisco and coastal California as they do in the hedgerows of Ireland, are unfortunately highly susceptible to the mite. F. magellanica genes are also in the most popular and widespread cultivars, such a ‘Swingtime’ and ‘Dark Eyes.’ Because of the ugly contortions, many fuchsias were simply pulled out.
This is where Dr. Peter Baye and the San Francisco Botanical Garden have come to the rescue.
Baye, a botanist at the SFBG, studied the issue with growers and eventually helped determine that a regular maintenance program of gall removal and treatment with pesticides could keep the new pest under control. But that’s certainly a lot of effort for a once almost care-free shrub in the regular home garden and the use of poisons can have repercussions beyond the pest at hand. He set out to breed new cultivars or re-create old ones using plants and species immune or highly resistant to the fuchsia gall mite. It’s not that the mites aren’t present, it’s just that the plants won’t develop those characteristic, disfiguring galls in response. Baye has since left the SFBG but work continues.
There are now quite a number of attractive gall-mite resistant plants available—with a good number on display in the SFBG—and I hope that the almost iconic flower of the City of Fuchsias by the Bay will eventually return to its former prominence. Thank you SFBG!
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