San Francisco Botanical Garden
Nestled inside Golden Gate Park is San Francisco Botanical Garden, a diverse garden that houses a bountiful variety of plants. San Francisco’s mild Mediterranean climate provides the Botanical Garden the right conditions to grow and conserve plants from all over the world, including plants that are no longer found in their native habitats. Within the garden, there are 55 acres of sanctuary - landscaped gardens and open spaces, which include 7500 varieties of plants from around the world!

But it’s one of the Garden’s most recent additions that is really catching the public’s attention: The Primitive Garden. This otherworldly exhibit is home to Australian tree ferns, wild ginko trees and Norfolk Island Pines, all set amongst a wild and exotic plethora of other ancient plants.

Plants in the Primitive Garden have adapted and evolved over time, though some so closely resemble extinct relatives that they are often called "living fossils."

Representatives of most non-extinct major groups from the Plant Kingdom are represented in the garden.

The Garden’s executive director, Michael McKechnie, calls this new garden “a great place to travel the world and see plant collections from Australia and New Zealand and travel through time to see how plants developed.”

For more information about the Primitive Garden and the rest of San Francisco Botanical Garden, please visit their website.

Great Park Conservancy Board Taps Hon. Marian Bergeson
Hon. Marian C. Bergeson has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Great Park Conservancy, a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose purpose is to generate public support and private fundraising to build and maintain the Orange County Great Park. “I am pleased to serve in this position because I strongly believe in the Orange County Great Park,” Bergeson stated. “The work that is now being done to plan and build the Great Park can produce a powerful, lasting imprint on our county. It will be a community resource that can serve future generations in perpetuity.”

The Great Park Conservancy’s new chair was the first woman ever to serve in both the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. Bergeson was a member of the California State Legislature from 1978-1995. She served on the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 1995-1996 and was the California State Secretary of Education from 1996-1999.

The Great Park Conservancy’s new slate of officers also includes: David Horowitz, businessman and philanthropist, vice chair; Robert Currie, former partner of Latham & Watkins, secretary; and John Katkish, President of First Management Group in Washington D.C., treasurer.

In addition, the Great Park Conservancy has added four new board members: Bob Magnuson, Doug Neff, Bill Witte and Mike Ellzey. Magnuson is currently president of Magnuson & Company, a strategic communications firm. Previously, Magnuson was president and CEO of InfoWorld Media Group, and before that he spent nearly 20 years at the Los Angeles Times. Doug Neff is a managing partner and president of IHP Capital Partners, where he has primary responsibility for the company’s operations. Neff was previously treasurer of the Irvine Company. Bill Witte is president of Related of California where he oversees all multi-family development activity in California. Prior to this, Witte was director of the Mayors Office of Housing & Economic Development in San Francisco. Mike Ellzey, who was elected as an ex-officio member of the Board, is the Orange County Great Park Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer. Prior to his position at the Great Park, Ellzey was the Executive Director and CEO of the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority in San Francisco.

Marian Bergeson succeeds Michael Ray, who has been elected Chairman Emeritus of the Great Park Conservancy. Ms. Bergeson’s two-year term will correspond to the beginning of construction at the Orange County Great Park.

Posted November 21, 2009

A Place Where Inspiration Becomes Opportunity – the Orange County Great Park

In our effort to promote regional awareness for the Orange County Great Park, the Conservancy sponsored a public service announcement (PSA) that will run during intermission at the 2009-2010 Anaheim Ducks hockey games. Click here to view our latest PSA.

Posted October 20, 2009

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