San Francisco Botanical Garden - Gardens - From the Executive Director

From the Director

Interim Executive Director Sue Ann Schiff
Ms. Schiff joined the Society in late April of this year. An attorney, she has held executive positions in nonprofits, higher education and the corporate sector. She has served on several nonprofit boards and holds a JD and MA (Sociology) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Start Spreading the News

Dear Friends,

While visiting family in New York City several weeks ago, I was able to spend the day at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, founded in 1910 and about the same size in acreage as San Francisco Botanical Garden. I left New York with enormous respect and admiration for the beautiful BBG and its role in its community and the world of botanical gardens. And I returned to San Francisco with a much deeper appreciation for our own unique contribution, both here in San Francisco and among gardens worldwide.

In the words of Frank Sinatra, it's time to start spreading the news! Frank was singing about New York. I'm thinking of San Francisco Botanical Garden. There is a lot happening here. We have a great story to tell and you can help us. There are so many reasons to be proud of our Botanical Garden.

I decided to make a list – a partial list of highlights of our plant collections, library and programs. This is a work in progress. Numbers cannot tell the whole story but they can help. Here goes:

208,895

Visitors over the past year, the first time we have done a systematic daily count.

50,000

Living plants representing over 8,000 different kinds of plants (over 5,600 distinct species).

27,000

Volumes plus 350 plant and garden periodicals in the collection of the Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture, Northern California's largest horticultural library.

25,000

Individual propagations per year, with many of these plants available to the public for purchase.

10,000

Children served by the Youth Education Program each year, most from San Francisco public schools and many from the most underserved neighborhoods.

2,100

Member households representing individuals, couples and families from San Francisco, the Bay Area and beyond.

1,750

Wild-collected species (30% of the plant species in the Botanical Garden).

365

Days per year the Botanical Garden is open to visitors.

250

Rare and endangered plant species now growing in the Garden.

Acres within Golden Gate Park, opened as Strybing Arboretum in 1940.

Individual gardens with a focus on plants from Mediterranean, Temperate and Cloud Forest habitats.

International ranking for the conservation of Magnolia and Magnolia family species, the highest ranking Magnolia collection outside China.

Cloud Forest collections (Andean, Mesoamerican, Southeast Asian) able to thrive outdoors in the Botanical Garden's uniquely hospitable microclimate.

Only one San Francisco Botanical Garden
– a place where people of every age and background can experience the world of plants in all their beauty, diversity and complexity every day, every season.

Please come for a visit and please start spreading the news.

With many thanks,

Sue Ann Schiff
Interim Executive Director
San Francisco Botanical Garden Society