Sneak Previews of Forthcoming Books of Special Interest to Southern Californians : A World-Class Cactus Garden : ‘I explained to Mr. Huntington that Southern California’s climatic conditions would be most advantageous toward assembling such a collection.’
The following is from “The Huntington Botanical Gardens 1905-1949: Personal Recollections of William Hertrich,” by William Hertrich, published this spring. Hertrich was superintendent of the estate of Henry E. Huntington and curator of the botanical gardens. The cactus garden of the Huntington Botanical Gardens is now the largest outdoor grouping of mature specimens in the United States. JUST AS THE grading for the palm garden began to take shape, I requested permission to establish a cactus garden. Mr. Huntington evidenced complete surprise and questioned why I thought anyone could possibly be interested in such a garden, admitting that he himself thoroughly disliked all types of cacti. He explained that it dated back to the time he had supervised construction work for the Southern Pacific Railroad on the Arizona desert: While backing away from some grading equipment that was passing by, he had had his first painful introduction to the prickly cactus.
I explained to Mr. Huntington that Southern California’s climatic conditions would be most advantageous toward assembling such a collection, which should include species and varieties from the entire continent. I also pointed out that this planting would be unique, made up solely of a family of American plants that would have definite scientific and therefore educational value. If he should care to extend the plan still further, I suggested, we could include other desert plants such as the yuccas, agaves, dasylirions and echeverias. And I proposed that we even consider plants from deserts other than America: for example, the South African succulents, such as aloes, euphorbias, crassulas and cotyledons.
Mr. Huntington finally evinced some real interest in the subject and the proposition, enough to question me as to where such a collection might be planted, such a garden’s estimated cost of construction, collection and maintenance, and other pertinent questions. We were sitting where we overlooked a barren hillside that had always been unsightly and unsuitable for most plantings because the soil was worn out. So I suggested that this spot would be an ideal location.
Permission was granted, thereupon, to start a cactus garden on a small scale only, for he was still not convinced about the advisability of planting the entire area to such a garden. Within a short time I obtained an assortment of about 300 plants for the first planting of the collection.
I began then in earnest to collect plants from the nearby California deserts. Shortly an opportunity presented itself to make a sizable addition to the collection from the Zobelein Estate, and in scouting about Southern California I located about a dozen more large specimens. The collection was growing rapidly. During those first few years I found myself competing with other collectors. One in particular was Arthur Letts of Hollywood, who was assembling a collection of cactus as part of the landscaping plan to improve the grounds of his new home.
In the summer of 1908 I began a series of collecting trips through the Arizona deserts. Included among the latter was one carload of young saguaros (the giant cactus Carnegiea gigantea ), state flower of Arizona.
The cactus garden, meanwhile, was taking shape much more rapidly than we had expected, and Mr. Huntington took great pleasure in showing his friends about. Mexico is a region where more cactus can be found than in any comparable area in the world, and when I went there on a trip some years later, the assembling of several thousand plants from that region included species and varieties not only of cacti but also of other interesting succulents..
An incident that amused us occurred in Central Mexico while I was selecting a few very desirable specimens of echinocactus (the barrel cactus) for display purposes, selecting them for size, shape and color of their spines. When the Mexicans, who had been engaged to transport them from the desert by burros, found it difficult to handle the specimens because of their sharp spines, they put their machetes to use in cutting off the spines. Mr. Huntington was greatly pleased with the results of my Mexican trip and watched the planting of the specimens in the garden. I found later that the personal contacts I had made while in Mexico were very gratifying, in that they led to additional acquisitions, thus augmenting the collection to such an extent that it became an exceptionally fine representation of North American cactus and succulents.
During the time the citrus orchards to the south of the Huntington estate were being subdivided into residential lots, the large open reservoir at the foot of the cactus garden was abandoned. Surplus soil accumulating from the grading of the streets in this new subdivision was used to fill in the reservoir. This added to the Huntington grounds about four acres.
In order to create an immediate display in this newly added area, we were obliged to transplant numerous large specimens of plants established earlier--some of them weighing between two and five tons. Included among theses were South African aloes, Mexican yuccas, dasylirions, nolinas, some century plants (i.e., agaves) and a few South American cereus.
OVER THE PERIOD of years since the establishment of this desert garden, we had accumulated what was considered the largest collection in the world of desert specimens planted outdoors. In order to maintain a live collection of such plants, it was necessary for us to make replacements from time to time--by propagation, exchange with other plant collectors and by purchase--since each year material was lost by frost, disease or old age. Mr. Huntington became very proud of the recognition of the worth of this garden to horticulturists, not only in the United States but also in South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.
Fortunately for our collection, several other desert-garden enthusiasts, including Arthur Letts, discontinued their private gardens for various reasons, and so some of the choicest species from several of the gardens found a permanent home in the Huntington Botanical Gardens. In 1928, a trip to Europe resulted in my locating a number of rare plants to enrich our collection, and a second trip 10 years later resulted in acquisition of rare South American and South African desert plants, plus promise of extended exchange of further material in the future. We ourselves had much plant material at that particular time to offer in exchange for what we were receiving from other botanical gardens.
Some years prior to Mr. Huntington’s passing (in 1927), Mrs. John D. Wright of Montecito began to collect cactus on a very large scale. She spared neither expense nor effort. In 1941, when the Wrights decided to move to New York, we acquired some interesting specimens. And in 1942, Mrs. Wright donated to the Huntington Botanical Gardens about 100 of her rare plants.
Albert Mendel of Hollywood, another enthusiastic cactus grower, passed on in 1940, whereupon his son, W. Mendel, gave to our gardens the larger portion of his father’s worthy collection.
A major problem that presented itself in connection with the above activities in establishing this specialized type of garden collection was how to allow the general public into that section, which was laid out with small beds and narrow paths. Many of the plants of this section had been laid out so that a close inspection could be made of the plants as individuals, at the same time providing efficient drainage that is so essential to this type of plant. It was a difficult job to devise a plan whereby this large area divided into many small beds could be efficiently guarded against theft, injury or vandalism.
At the beginning visitors were allowed only to the lower boundaries, but the interest was so great that it was deemed advisable to extend the privilege to other sections. In 1930 materials were secured that made possible the laying of a walk 1,100 feet long and 10 feet wide to lead through the center of the garden, running north and south. During that summer five carloads of desert lava rock were obtained, and a rockery was constructed. Into this substance was planted a representation of the general species and varieties. It was an arrangement that proved satisfactory to both the visitors and ourselves, for it represented a balanced planting of the specimens and also eliminated to a great degree the difficulty of guarding the entire cactus garden. To add further to the public’s edification, 3,000 metal labels were placed on the outstanding plants here and elsewhere, providing botanical information.
Copyright 1949 and 1988 by Huntington Library Publications. Reprinted with permission from Huntington Library Publications.
