In old California

Few men have done more for the California landscape than a Brit named Theodore Payne. He arrived here as a young man in 1893, fell hard for his new homeland and devoted his life to the preservation and distribution of its plants and flowers.

In the early 1960s, he penned his memories, which are gathered in this charming collection, printed for the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley. “Life on the Modjeska Ranch in the Gay Nineties,” recounts his first U.S. job, as a gardener in the wilds of Orange County, complete with Mexican outlaws, a mountain lion and his first Matilija poppy.

Next comes “Adventures Among the Southern California Plants,” a series of little essays such as “A Walk Up the Coast in 1904” and “Baby Quail Crossing a Stream.” The treasure includes the autobiographical “Brief History of a Life in Horticulture” and photos of early Southern California and his downtown L.A. and Los Feliz nurseries.

*

-- Lili Singer