Arboretum at the University of California, Santa Cruz

The Arboretum & Botanic Garden at the University of California, Santa Cruz, provides a vibrant collection of plants from Mediterranean climates across the globe, housed on the university's scenic campus. Established in 1964, concurrent with the founding of UC Santa Cruz, it began with around 90 species of eucalyptus and has significantly expanded over the decades. Today, it showcases an extensive range of plants from the Southern Hemisphere, including a variety of conifers, South African proteas, and flora from Australia and New Zealand, alongside a robust selection of native Californian species.

Spanning a unique site that includes diverse climates, topographies, and soil types — thanks to underlying granite, schist, limestone, and sandstone — the Arboretum thrives as a center for botanical research and conservation. It is home to more than 300 plant families, featuring large collections of rare and endangered plants, world conifers, primitive angiosperms, and bulbous plants. These collections are especially valuable because many of the species are not commonly found in other American botanical gardens and arboreta.

The Arboretum functions as a largely self-sustaining entity within UC Santa Cruz. Financially, it relies on diverse income sources like sales from Norrie’s Gift Shop, admission and rental fees, memberships, and the largest contributors: endowments and donations.

The Arboretum also places a strong emphasis on community and educational programs, including the student worker program, the Native Plant Program, and the Amah Mutsun Relearning Program, which aligns with its mission to educate and engage the public in plant conservation and ecological awareness.