Kate Sessions (1857 - 1940) is a renowned botanist, horticulturist and landscape architect with a conscientious approach and a dedicated passion for the natural and green.
Brought up in San Fransisco, Kate later attended Berkley University in 1881 and graduated with a degree in natural sciences.
In 1885 Kate purchased her first nursery. She later became the owner of her own flower shop and growing fields, the most distinguished of which was 30 acres Balboa Park in 1892.
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| Balboa Park |
She played an instrumental role in introducing Californian native plants to gardens and the horticulture trade. The steep rise of the use of the jacaranda flower was due to Kate's work in importing and popularising it. Along with Alfred Robinson, Kate co-founded the San Diego Floral Association in 1907 which is the oldest garden club in Southern California. It worked to teach people how to plant ornamental and edible plants on land mostly made up of dirt and sage bush.
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| Jacaranda Tree |
During a seven month trip to Europe Kate made highly extensive and meticulous collections and documentations of the unfamiliar foreign plants and imported her finding back to her fields. The dedication, energy and pure intention in which she placed on the documentation and nurturing of her plants was like no other and led to to her successful yet fairly unrecognised achievements.
A humanitarian at heart she formed the Balboa Park's Improvement Committee whose work has resulted in securing the park's place in the life of the community even up to this day. The legacy Kate has left behind exists within the result of her heartfelt and devoted work and her committed approach
to the natural world.
