Last updated: June 11, 2024
Place
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Long Beach, CA
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Estate
MANAGED BY:
Now known as the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens, the area started as Susanna Bixby Bryant’s 1927 garden on her Orange County estate. A fan of nature, she wanted to explore and demonstrate the value of California native plants and wildflowers. Two years after planting her garden, she would hire Olmsted Brothers to help design the rest of her 200-acre property.
A 1930 plan shows proposed plantings, pools, and pathways, with original trails and roads laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, who also made several detailed studies on landscaping. After Bryant’s death, the collection was relocated to Claremont College, and is now known as the California Botanic Garden.
Source: "Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
A 1930 plan shows proposed plantings, pools, and pathways, with original trails and roads laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, who also made several detailed studies on landscaping. After Bryant’s death, the collection was relocated to Claremont College, and is now known as the California Botanic Garden.
Source: "Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr