GABRIEL HOWEARTH
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Terraforming in Southern Baja California: Arid-Tropical Biodiversity, Regeneration, and Preservation |
by James E. Williams, OMD
Creating an oasis of biodiversity in the imposing desert of Southern Baja California, Mexico may well be the ultimate challenge for any gardener. It may also be the key to survival. Biodiversity, a term that has become a bit trendy lately, implies more than tallying species. It also suggests multiplicity. Identifying endangered hotspots1 and preserving the environment in its native state are the best-known aspects of biodiversity. However, the practice of biodiversity encompasses other features of equal or, perhaps, more critical importance in light of humanity’s apparent inability to slow the rapid loss of wilderness, to stop global warming, or reverse the greenhouse effect. This practice includes heritage seed collection and seed banking to ensure future diversity, the creation of urban and suburban ecological zones, establishing new and more extensive botanical gardens, and planting oases of human-made biodiversity.
The botanical gardens of Gabriel Howearth Landeros are a case study in the creation of biodiversity. Located in the desert of Southern Baja California, Howearth tends more than 3,000 different native and introduced plant species that co-exist on four hectares (a hectare is equivalent to 2.47 acres). Compare those numbers with these: 155 plant species in a 400-hectare suburban Boston park. The entire Baja peninsula itself has only about 2,700 plant species.2 The 3,000-plus species under Howearth’s care make an astounding vision that steadily expands as he adds more species.
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Renowned Horticulturist Designs ABC Gardens |
By Gayle Engels
ABC is proud to acknowledge the cooperation of Gabriel Howearth Landeros in designing the master plan for its educational gardens. Internationally known botanist and co-founder of Seeds of Change, Gabriel is the founder and currently executive director of Siempre Semillas A.C., a Mexican nonprofit organization in Baja California Sur. The organization operates the Fundación Ecológica Huerta Planetaría and its attendant Kinship Botanical Gardens and serves as a research and educational center in finding new and appropriate food, medicinal, seed, and ornamental crops for the arid, tropical regions of the world. After years of studying, gathering plant specimens, and designing medicinal gardens worldwide, Howearth is uniquely qualified to assist ABC in accomplishing one of its longtime goals -- the development of a world-class botanical garden dedicated to medicinal plants.
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