Ode to Eucalyptus

Another modified piece from the Eureka! exhibit (California stories told in the design of the time). The Eucalyptus, which is know a staple of the CA landscape, was an immigrant itself. Heralding from Australia, settlers brought it over and planted it to remind them of home in their new life. But it was tobacco heir Abbot Kinney who turned a regional fad into a landscape-altering phenomenon in California. Known today as the developer of Venice, Kinney served as CA state forester from 1886 to 1888 and used the position to promote the eucalyptus, distributing free seeds across the state. In 1887, he established a forestry station in Rustic Canyon, near Santa Monica, where he planted numerous species of eucalypti, and in 1895 published a 300-page book about the tree. By the turn of the century, the Eucalyptus fad was on. This piece designed in the Arts & Crafts movement style.