The UC Berkeley Botanical Garden points to UC Berkeley as a community resource. Further, it contributes to the perception of  UC Berkeley as an Intellectual Institution.

 

Our Botanical Garden is an extremely unique resource that provides Berkeley with an edge in its access to resources for its research. It has an extensive and impressive collection of plant species, and shows that Berkeley is dedicated to ecological preservation and scientific studies:

• “The University of California Botanical Garden is the oldest university-associated botanical garden in the United States. Although the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is 20 years older, its collections are essentially restricted to woody plants that can be grown outdoors in the Boston area. Berkeley, with more than 8000 species, has the largest collection of living plants of any university-affiliated garden int eh country, having half again as many species as the Arboretum, twice that of University of Washington Arboretum, the Michigan State University Botanical Garden and the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania.” [1]

• “The University of California Botanical Garden is also unusual in that it is located close to the campus, whereas most others are as much as several miles from their associated campus.” [1]

• “Besides having the desirable attributes of size of collection, proximity to the campus and high level of documentation, the Berkeley Garden offers remarkable ecological diversity. This is because the unusual nature of the climate in Strawberry Canyon permits the side-by-side growth of plants from deserts, coasts and high mountains, a type of diversity possible at few other locations in the United States.” [2]

• “There are few additional gardens elsewhere in the state, but they are generally small and of little or no scientific interest.” [2]

The Garden has grown with the University, and continues to grow in value as climate change becomes increasingly worse and public resources and access to nature become less available: 

• “The Garden represents a sort of living capital investment in terms of age, past research and present collections and facilities which make it unique and irreplaceable. Its true worth cannot be measured in terms of either current expenditures or replacement costs.” [3]

• “Because of this commonality of interest, the Garden will be particularly important to the public as representative of University quality, management, appearance and seriousness of public service. Its success or its failures may be seen, in the eyes of many visitors, as typical of the entire university program, its search of academic excellence and its concern for the community.” [4]

• “As public awareness of environmental problems increases and interest in plants expands and as dwindling energy resources and their rising costs force a reduction in mobility and a consequent increase in value of close-by opportunities, the importance of the garden to the general public will also grow.” [5]

Overall, the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden shows UC Berkeley's dedication to being an renowned research institution throughout the world and its commitment to bettering the community it is situated in. Not only does UC Berkeley have a commitment to the education of its students, but it also has a commitment to educating the broader California community. Equipped with passionate workers like Wayne Roderick– who are committed to helping students learn about nature, as well as maintaining and caring for an enormous variety of plant species– the Gardens reflect UC Berkeley's diligence towards education. By providing educational resources and programs, jobs and opportunities, and workshops and fun events, the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden is the ultimate embodiment of UC Berkeley's unique contribution to the realm of academia and its holistic commitment to intellectual development.