Luther Burbank Home

I had to go downtown to get a graduation present today, so I decided to go by the Luther Burbank Home which is now a city park. Burbank, a botanist and horticulturalist, developed over 800 strains and varieties of plants, including the Shasta Daisy, a spineless cactus, the freestone peach and the Santa Rosa Plum. ( I saw a HUGE cactus plant in the garden, but it certainly looked to me like it had plenty of thorns.)

Luther was the thirteenth of fifteen children. I wonder what he learned from his mother about the propagation of new species?

Burbank sold the rights to the Burbank potato for $150 , which he used to travel from Massachusetts to Santa Rosa in 1875. The Burbank Russet potato is now the most widely cultivated potato in the United States, probably because a large percentage of them are used to make MacDonald's french fries....they DO make good ones.

I feel that we have been moving around the edges of this man's influence ever since we started going to Sebastopol. Burbank developed an 18acre experimental farm there called Gold Ridge Farm. Although we saw the signs for it every time we went anywhere in Sebastopol, we still haven't visited it.

His home and gardens, including a house, a carriage house (now a gift shop), a walled garden, and a rose garden are on a four acre plot in what is now the center of Santa Rosa, across the street from City Hall. It is a peaceful refuge open to the public--a visit there is like taking a step back in time. I love the idea that he could finance a permanent move to Santa Rosa on $150 where he was able to create much more than just potatoes!