Qualla: Stanford University Arboretum

Stanford University Arboretum: Introduction

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot., CC BY-SA 3.0. Jane Stanford was unambiguous. In her 1903 address to the university's trustees, she declared that the arboretum should "always be sacredly preserved from mutilation." She called it a favorite project of her husband Leland, planted twenty-eight years earlier with "the choicest trees from all parts of the world." The university sold portions of it for a shopping mall and professor housing.

Image: Daderot. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Stanford University Arboretum: Olmsted's Vision

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot., CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1885, Leland Stanford contracted Frederick Law Olmsted -- the landscape designer behind Central Park and the U.S. Capitol grounds -- to plan the university's grounds. An 1888 memorandum, signed by Stanford, stated that the arboretum should exhibit "all the trees and wood plant...

Image: Daderot. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Stanford University Arboretum: A Misnomer

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot., CC BY-SA 3.0. The grand vision never materialized. A 1914 report by the Olmsted Brothers firm was blunt: the arboretum was "a misnomer" that consisted "mostly of a thick plantation of blue gums and Monterey Cypress" rather than the diverse botanical collection its name implied. The Department ...

Image: Daderot. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Stanford University Arboretum: What Remains

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot., CC BY-SA 3.0. Today the arboretum is a shaded, somewhat wild open space within the campus, dominated by coast live oaks with scattered valley, blue, and black oaks. Older specimens include Atlas cedar, California sycamore, Canary Island date palms, deodar cedar, and Torrey pine. The Arizona Ca...

Image: Daderot. | CC BY-SA 3.0