Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

The Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens will research the viability of centrally controlled automatic irrigation systems for botanical gardens across the country. This process will include working with the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii; the North Carolina Botanical Garden; the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden in California; and the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum. These four project partners, each in different climate zones, will help assess the needs of botanical gardens and develop a comprehensive prototype for gardens of all sizes, collection types, and budgets. The potential model irrigation system for the botanical garden community would reduce staff time devoted to irrigation, increase plant hardiness, and conserve water.