Address
Quince Drive and Balboa Drive
San Diego, CA 92103
Contact
visitor@balboapark.org
(619) 239-0512 x8
Our Mission
The mission of Trees for Health Garden is to provide a healing space where the public can learn about the medicinal properties of plants in traditional herbal, current herbal, and pharmaceutical medicine.
Our History
The Trees for Health garden began as a project of the San Diego Herb Club in 1993 to identify and map medicinally useful trees in Balboa Park and then plant 15 more. The original founders were Barbara Carey, Fern Wilson, and Charlotte Tenney.
In 1995 the project expanded when the Balboa Park horticulturist, Kathy Puplava, arranged for Trees for Health to have a permanent space, at the corner of Quince Street and Balboa Drive. Working with the park nursery, the Herb Club team planted 35 trees by the end of 1995. The project has continued to grow since then. In 1998, the garden space was expanded to cover 3 ½ acres, and more trees were planted. In 2015 the garden expanded again to include the oak circle on the north side of the garden. Currently the garden covers 4 ½ acres, with over 70 trees, shrubs and ground cover, all with medicinal value.
The plants are now an established collection, maintained by a dedicated crew of volunteers. Paths were resurfaced and seating areas were added in 2013 and 2014. In 2022 the CCC reworked and improved the trails in the garden.
The garden space is now being used to fulfill its educational mission—to be a healing space that educates the public about the value of healing plants from many parts of the world.
In 2014, a series of videos was created featuring noted herbalists discussing particular medicinal plants in the garden. In the spring of 2015 a guided walking tour was installed—the 5 Flavors Tour. It focuses on the ways in which the taste of a plant indicates the actions it will have on the body. The World Trees tour was added in 2018 and In 2022 videos featuring the tour were produced by Sage Country Herbs in cooperation with the Trees for Health volunteer team.
Over the years, Trees for Health has received funding from Urban Forestry, the James Hervey Johnson Foundation, the Steven R. Dows Memorial Fund, the Lawrence Y. True Memorial Fund at The San Diego Foundation, and private donors. Individuals can donate to Trees for Health through Forever Balboa Park.
