Theodore Payne Foundation
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The Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants, is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1960 to promote the understanding and preservation of California native plants. The Foundation is incorporated in California and located in Sun Valley, about fifteen miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, where it operates a nursery and education center focused on California natives. Programs include the propagation of a wide range of species and cultivars of the California flora for use in the home landscape; collection and process of seeds from the wild for use in propagation; educational programs for children concerning plant-animal relations, butterflies, and human uses of native plant materials; and courses in the horticulture, botany, and ecology of California native plants for the general public. Major events include an annual garden tour in the greater Los Angeles area featuring gardens with at least 50% California native plants, the Wildflower Hotline, from March to May, which provides information on the best places in California to view wild flowers; and an art gallery specializing in botanical illustration, botanical portraits, and other artistic and historical subjects concerning the California flora.
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[edit] About Theodore Payne
Theodore Payne was born in Northamptonshire, England and served an apprenticeship in horticulture. He came to Southern California in 1893 and was soon put in charge of the garden on Madame Modjeska’s ranch in Santiago Canyon, Orange County, California. It was there that his love affair with California flora began, eventually dedicated his life to its preservation. Even in the early years of the 20th century, native vegetation was being lost to agriculture and housing at an alarming rate. He urged the use of California native plants and lectured across the state on preserving the wild flowers and landscapes native to California.
In his own nursery and seed business, which he started in 1903, native wildflowers and landscapes were his specialty. In 1915 he laid out and planted 262 species in a 5-acre (20,000 m2) wild garden in Los Angeles' Exposition Park. He later helped to establish the Blaksley Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara (now the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden), planted 178 native species in the California Institute of Technology Botanic Garden in Pasadena, helped create the native plant garden at Los Angeles' Descanso Gardens, and advised the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Orange County.
By the time he retired in 1958, Payne had made over 400 species of native plants available to the public.
[edit] Theodore Payne Art Gallery
The Theodore Payne Art Gallery features historical and contemporary artworks depicting the California flora as technical illustrations and botanical portraits, as well as cultural, historical, and other exhibits featuring the California flora. Historical artists featured in the gallery include Alice Chittenden, Ethel Wickes, and Jane Pinheiro. Contemporary artists featured include photographers Fred Kuretski, Richard Dickey, and Ken Gilliland, and artists Melanie Symonds, Pamela Burgess and Elinor Nissley.
