Susanna Bixby Bryant (April 11, 1880 – October 2, 1946) was an American horticulturalist, rancher, botanical collector and the founder of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California, the largest botanic garden in the state that housed the California native plants.[1][2][3]
Born on April 11, 1880, in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California, United States, Susanna Bixby Bryant was the daughter of John William Bixby and Susan Patterson Hathaway.[4][5] During her childhood, she resided at her family home in the Rancho Los Alamitos.[6][5] After graduating from the Miss Hersey's School in Boston, she traveled extensively.[5]
In 1875, John Bixby purchased 5,000 acres of land in eastern Yorba Linda, California from the widow of Bernardo Yorba, a prominent Californio landowner, after whom Yorba Linda is named.[7][1][2] Bixby later named his property, Rancho Santa Ana, after the Santa Ana River that flowed adjacent to his land.[2][3] He raised cattle and sheep.[2]
Following the death of her father in 1891, Bryant inherited the ranch.[3] She recognized the need for protecting 6000 native plants.[8] In 1927, Bryant established, in memory of her father, a native garden on family's Cañon de Santa Ana ranch in Orange County, California to preserve California's native plants and habitats.[9][10][5] In 1926, Bryant wrote to Charles Sprague Sargent, professor of Aboriculture, Harvard University outlining her vision for developing a botanic garden.[6][2] In 1929, she hired the Olmsted Brothers, a landscape architectural firm, to help in designing a 200 acres of land for gardening.[3] In 1930, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. proposed a detailed plan which included plantings of different native plants, and creating pools and pathways, with original trails and roads.[2]
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden was renamed as the California Botanic Garden and relocated to North College Avenue of Claremont Colleges in 1951 after Bryant's death in 1946.[9][6][11][1][2][3]
Bryant was the member of the California Historical Society and the Garden Club of America.[5][2]
Bryant married Dr. Ernest A. Bryant, born in Canada, who was the personal physician of American railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington and lived in Los Angeles.[5] They had two children.[5][2]
Bryant died on October 2, 1946, in Santa Barbara, California.[6][5][2]