Luther Burbank Home & Gardens

Apples and pears, grapes and hops, plums and peaches—as Sonoma County’s rich agricultural history suggests, pretty much anything will grow here. Pioneering horticulturist Luther Burbank recognized this when he made Sonoma County his home in 1875.

Burbank’s cross-breeding experiments at his Santa Rosa and Sebastopol greenhouses are credited with creating over 800 new strains of flowers, fruits, trees, and other plants over his 50-year science career, including the big, white Shasta daisy, a spineless cactus, the blight-resistant Burbank potato, and the plumcot (a cross between an apricot and a plum).

He was also well connected in science circles of the time, counting Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, amongst others, as friends. Ford sent him the first tractor off the company’s production line as a gift in 1918.

Santa Rosa was proud to have Burbank, and he was happy to be part of the city’s self-promotion. A Santa Rosa promotional brochure in the 1920s described him as “California’s best citizen,” and borrowed one of his many famous Sonoma quotes: “I would rather own a piece of land the size of a good healthy house lot in Sonoma County than an entire farm anywhere else on earth.”

Burbank’s own healthy house lot where he lived until 1906 is preserved, together with a small greenhouse and the gardens, as part of the 1.6-acre State Historic Park in Santa Rosa (on the 200 block of Santa Rosa Ave. at Sonoma Ave., just across the street from city hall, 707/524-5445).

The gardens contain many of Burbank’s horticultural creations and are open 8 a.m.–sunset every day. The museum and greenhouse, which include some of his tools and explain the significance of his work, are open April–October (10 a.m.–4 p.m. Tues.–Sun., $4). Guided tours are also available during the summer months.

Also open near Sebastopol is the 15-acre Gold Ridge Experiment Farm, where Burbank did many of his horticultural experiments and where there is still a historic collection of some of his creations (7781 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol, 707/829-7041, open year-round, cottage open Wed.). Take a self-guided hike or join a docent-lead tour (Apr.–Oct. by appointment).