John R. Rodman Arboretum
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The John R. Rodman Arboretum 10 acres (40,000 m²) is located on the campus of Pitzer College, 1050 North Mills Avenue, Claremont, California, USA. The Arboretum began in 1984 when Dr. John R. Rodman, Professor of Environmental Studies, and Dr. Sheryl F. Miller, Professor of Anthropology, along with other faculty, staff, and students, tried to save surviving indigenous vegetation from demolition by well-meaning academic developers. Since 1988 the Arboretum has been an official part of the college.
Sixteen Arboretum gardens demonstrate that drought-tolerant, native landscaping can produce beautiful and environmentally responsible gardens for the San Gabriel scrub country of Southern California.
The Arboretum Gardens and Plant Communities are as follows:
- David Bloom Garden of Remembrance - dedicated 2003 to David Bloom 1985, a place of memorial.
- Desert Garden - examples are South African Euphorbia ‘Sticks on Fire’ and cactusprevalent in Mexico such as cholla, pipe organ (Pachycereus marginatus), beavertail (Opuntia ficus-indica), and Agave salmiana.
- Ellsworth Garden - a water-conserving garden named for Pitzer President Frank Ellsworth; many aloe species are represented.
- Eunice Pitzer Wildflower Garden - Eunice Pitzer (1912-92) was a lover of the desert and of desert wildflowers.
- Farm Project Garden and Orchard - A parking lot until energetic students liberated it with jackhammers and labor, its centerpiece is the chicken house as an example of sustainable agriculture.
- Grove House Gardens - Three gardens, including the Citrus Orchard with ‘Moro’ blood oranges, tangelos, ‘Oro Blanco’ grapefruit, ‘Dancy’ tangerines and ‘Eureka’ lemons; Waldo's Garden with Brazilian silk floss trees (Chorisia speciosa), catnip, plants attractive to birds and butterflies, and a pond; and Farmworkers Memorial Garden (2003), a rose garden honoring the farmworkers’ movement.
- Intercultural Garden - designed by Bob Perry in 1994, with plants of China and Asia such as Ginkgo biloba; Australia and New Zealand, Kangaroo paws (Anigozanthus); Africa, Aloe dichotoma or quiver plant; Egypt/Middle East (papyrus, pomegranates, figs); and New World succulents.
- Medicinal Garden - begun 1998-99, medicinal and culinary species from world cultures, including Agave tequilana; Salvia and Artemisia spp.; lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus); feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium); etc.
- Outback / Arboretum Natural Area - threatened by campus expansion, but preserving the local plant community with a native mix of coastal sage scrub and chaparral.
- Ruth Munroe Garden - dedicated to a guiding spirit.
- The Strip - natives such as toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and Matilija poppy or “fried egg plant” (Romneya coulteri).
- Woodlands - three woodlands planted on reclaimed earth, representing four types of southern California woodland: pinyon pines, junipers, Yucca whipplei, Apache plum, endangered Englemann oaks (Quercus englemanni), Coast live oaks (Q. agrifolia), cottonwood trees (Populus balsamifera & P. fremontii), Golden currant (Ribes aureum), and California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera).
