Historical Context and Background
In Brief
 There have been four horticultural surveys conducted in Presidio Park since its establishment as a city park.
1. Percy Broell - 1937
|
Genus
Species
Total plants |
80
130
1770 | |
In the late 1920s George Marston hired Percy Broell as park superintendent. Broell held that position for ten years and was instrumental in the development of Presidio Park.
In 1937, Park Superintendent Percy Broell produced eight maps with botanical legends documenting what he had planted and what was present in the park at that time. And thus began the documentation of Presidio Park's horticultural experiment. That document remains unpublished. The maps he produced are widely unknown, until now. Go to Percy Broell's Survey.
Read the 1978 Percy Broell Interview by Nan Cuthbert for the Oral History Program at the San Diego History Center. (25-page PDF, 1.1 mb)
2. Chauncy Jerabek - 1962*
3. Chauncy Jerabek - 1969
|
Genus
Species
Total plants |
61
94
357 | |
There were three inventories created by Jerabek. Two nearly exact versions of "A Plant Tour of Presidio Park" by Chauncy Jerabek, was republished in the Journal of San Diego History in April 1962 and Summer 1969, with edits and updates by then Park Superintendent Williams Evans. Go to Chauncy Jerabek's Survey.
4. Parish Rye - 2018
|
Genus
Species
Total plants** |
113
207
3436 | |
In 2007 a small group of master gardeners approached the San Diego City Parks and Recreation Department with an idea. They wanted to conduct a plant survey of Presidio Park. Being that I was assigned to Presidio Park as a park ranger I volunteered to supervise and assist. I had one question initially - "I don't know much about these ornamentals and I don't know how to conduct a plant survey. What do I do?" And thus the adventure began.
There 3443 plant found. Of those 2577 were non-native plants and from among these the eucalyptus species was the most numerous, with 25 species and 425 individual trees found. Also not indigenous and of note were aloe and acacia species. There are approximately 181 aloe plants stretching over 6 species. The Acacia genus is represented by 75 plants in 12 different species categories. Cacti, to include Opuntia, Cylindropuntia, Echinocactus, and Echinopsis comprise 156 plants with 13 species represented. There were 287 pine trees located represented by 7 different species, including the native Torrey pine of which there are 159. Additionally, 11 species of palms were found totaling 200 individual trees. Go to Parish Rye's Survey.
* Jerabek - 1962 and 1969 are largely identical having used an identical map and showing nearly the same plants for each survey.
** Number excludes several plants that remained unidentified but were later counted in the final tally of the total number of plants.
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