The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden isn’t resting on its laurels during its 100th anniversary year — though California laurel (Umbellularia californica) grows naturally along the creek in Mission Canyon where the garden was established on March 16, 1926.

A conversation with Steve Windhager, Ph.D., the Botanic Garden’s executive director, revealed that the institution plans to face the next 100 years with the certainty, backed by science, that native plants can combat the ecological threats related to climate change and shrinking biodiversity.

In other words, native plants can save the world.

“The idea is that the Botanic Garden isn’t just a pretty place to walk in Mission Canyon and that it provides science support throughout the state and is an increasingly visible force in promoting the value and power of native plants,” he said.

Focus on Today’s Problems

With a century of research into California flora, the Botanic Garden is well equipped to address modern ecological problems, including climate change. It was envisioned and founded by forward-thinking botanists and philanthropists as a beautiful place to pursue experimental plant research and educate the public. It soon became the country’s first botanic garden to focus solely on native plants.

“Everything we are doing here is to address biodiversity,” Windhager said in his office in a rustic building near the gift shop. “One way to do that is to mitigate the impact of climate change. More climate change means less biodiversity.”

Now in his 15th year at the Botanic Garden, Windhager wore cowboy boots that revealed his Texas roots. He received his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of North Texas. His thesis focused on the restoration ecology of prairie systems.

Native plants are the foundation of all ecosystems, he pointed out. Hybrid roses and other non-natives might attract honeybees, a species introduced in the 17th century by North American settlers. Serving biodiversity means gardening with plants used by native bees, of which there are 1,600 specialized species in California alone.

“Insects drive the engines that make everything work. If we lose insects, we lose lizards, birds, and what feeds on them, all the way up to the grizzly bear,” he said. “We are all part of the solution. Figuring this out will affect every decision about how we develop land, for example. We can build houses and still have housing for native critters, too.”

Native Plants as a Default

The Botanic Garden’s strategy to promote native plants has many branches, and it starts with the location itself. Gloriously mature after a century of care, the garden demonstrates that native plants are not only vital to the planet’s survival but are also beautiful.

“We want people to be inspired to emulate the garden, and also to recognize why it is in their best interest to use native plants,” Windhager said. “Native plants should become a default, and every garden should have some natives in it.”

The Botanic Garden’s goal is to ensure 30% native plant coverage not only in home gardens but throughout the region.

Taking the Native Plant Pledge, launched in April, is what he called “a simple step that turns support into action.” Participants receive free information about planting native species, reducing water use, creating habitat for pollinators and wildlife, and more.

“People need to know how to garden with native plants, so they don’t fail when they try,” he said. “By sharing our know-how, we can make it easier to get started.”

They have increased the number of native gardening classes for beginners, along with specialized courses for seasoned gardeners. Click here for information.

Its job-training certification program has graduated nearly 200 newly minted native plant landscape professionals in the past two years, including two cohorts taught in Spanish.

The success of those efforts hinges on plant availability. To that end, the Botanic Garden and Channel Islands Restoration are opening a new wholesale native plant nursery on More Ranch Road, which will supply the garden’s nursery, bolster regional restoration projects and service other local retail nurseries.

Partnerships to Save the World

Windhager recognized that one organization can’t save the world alone, and cited its many partnerships.

The Botanic Garden recently hired its first director of impact and advocacy to plant the seeds for key relationships with policymakers and to cultivate partnerships with like-minded regional organizations.

A newly created working group recently obtained city and county resolutions and proclamations in support of native plants and related policies. Efforts soon will expand to Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.

“We’ve started these conversations and want to find ways to work with government, agencies and partners to continue them,” Windhager said.

For one locally significant effort, the Botanic Garden has partnered with the California Native Plant Society and the California Botanic Garden at Claremont Graduate University, among others, to oppose the federal government’s proposed rescinding of the 2001 “roadless rule,” which affects 635,000 acres in Los Padres National Forest.

Beyond Mission Canyon

The Botanic Garden also has spread its roots beyond Mission Canyon with collaborative projects in public spaces throughout the county. The work extends beyond just planting; it is a transformation of ecosystems.

Atop an ocean-view bluff in Elings Park, Botanic Garden staff and volunteers removed thirsty non-native and exotic plants and replaced them with drought-tolerant natives adapted for the region. The one-acre test plot, entering its third year, is thriving. It serves as a living vision of a successful ecosystem starting with native plants that now attracts native insects, birds and other wildlife.

Similar landscape restoration collaborations are underway in the Cuyama Valley, Montecito’s Hammonds Meadow and Santa Barbara’s Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden. The Botanic Garden also partnered with the City of Santa Barbara and the Friends of State Street to replace landscaping with resilient, low-water native plants in beds along the 1200 block of State Street, in the heart of downtown.

“The offices of the Community Environmental Council are there,” Windhager said, referring to the nonprofit organization that also works to find solutions to the climate crisis. “We already have the CEC, so we don’t need to be the CEC, but we can restore a plot of land in front of their offices.”

In coming months, the Botanic Garden will launch a major initiative focused on wildfire and fire resilience, how people can prepare for and live with fire, and the role of native plants in that process.

Free, themed Community Days celebrating the centennial are planned for Sundays in October. The first, set for Oct. 4, will be about music, with pop-up concerts throughout the garden, and a silent disco in the redwood grove. Find out more at sbbotanicgarden.org/calendar/.

 Yet more steps to save the world.