Construction is well underway at Nature Trail at the Nat, the native plant garden to flank the exterior of the San Diego Natural History Museum as part of the museum’s 150th anniversary celebration. The 22,000 square foot space will be free to the public and include a pollinator garden in honor of longtime Balboa Park boosters Homer and Betty Peabody.
Betty Peabody was dressed in yellow and black for the event with a few other people wearing bee-themed accessories in honor of her namesake pollinator garden.
“Birds, bees and bats will love this new pitstop in the park—and people will too,” said Judy Gradwohl, the Christy Walton President and CEO at the Nat at a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Jan. 26. Over a hundred people gathered for the event, with many standing in the grass field near the Moreton Bay Fig Tree as seats overflowed.
“Even though today is the official groundbreaking, we were too excited to wait for this event to get started with the construction. My notes here say the minute we got the permit, the bulldozers rolled in. Actually, I think it was a few hours [later],” said Gradwohl.
Since the garden is part of Balboa Park and not owned by the museum, the permit process required support from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department with private funding for the addition. Mayor Todd Gloria acknowledged that while the city is in charge of Balboa Park, private donors and foundations often fill the gap to keep Balboa Park up to the standard San Diego deserves.
With the fence of the actual construction site managed by Spurlock Landscape Architects behind them, Gradwohl, Gloria, Peabody, State Senate pro Tempore Toni Atkins, City Councilman Stephen Whitburn, and Tribal Chairman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians Raymond Welch ceremonially shoveled dirt at the groundbreaking.
Gloria quipped that he much preferred a ribbon cutting to a groundbreaking because of his impatient nature. The usually eloquent Gloria was tongue tied and struggled in parts of his speech.
“Talking too much— occupational hazard,” Gloria joked.
Atkins had similar problems during her own speech, as the two vacillated between celebrating the milestone and acknowledging that many San Diegans are suffering in the wake of floods.
“It has been a really long week and people are struggling. I think we feel that but as we feel the struggles that people go through on a daily basis in our own community, in our state, in the world, we need places like Balboa Park. We need this,” Atkins said to applause.
The garden was funded by private donors but Atkins secured state funds for the HVAC system. She said her staff initially pitched the state funding the garden instead.
“I said, ‘No, I’m going to contribute to the HVAC inside. Because I love the infrastructure and I was pretty sure a lot of you would like to contribute to the garden. We all want to contribute to beautiful things. but I think together we get the job done, whether it’s the infrastructure — the elevator, the HVAC system — or the beautiful garden that we’re going to create,” Atkins said.
The garden is expected to be finished in early summer and serve as a classroom for local fifth graders to learn about the natural world along with any park visitors interested. Already, children have contributed to the garden.
Students at Barona Indian Charter School researched plants native to the region to advise what should go in the garden.
“We appreciate the staff at the museum reaching out and I am grateful to Barona’s youth for continuing to educate the greater public about our way of knowing,” Welch said.
Interpretive signage and online education content are being developed in partnership with Barona Cultural Center and Museum.
The garden will be managed by a volunteer corps Forever Balboa Park is organizing.
