How our garden is growing

Don't let its winter appearance deceive you: Pacific's Ted and Chris Robb Garden is abloom.

Established in 2012 with a gift from Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb, the campus garden has been a source of campus pride and a hive of community activity. This spring, exciting changes are in the works.

The garden is set to roughly double in size with the addition of the Abigail Robb Plaza and a native garden, thanks to generous new gifts from Robb and the Bon Appétit Management Company.

Robb, who is a Pacific regent, created the garden in honor of his sons Ted '02 and Chris '06 and will now honor his daughter Abigail with the addition of the plaza.

The Bon Appétit Native Garden will be a microcosm of a regional California plant community accented by native rock specimens. Filled with carefully chosen native trees, shrubs and flowers, the native garden will serve as a demonstration low‐water use garden for the area, and will educate both students and the community about the selection of appropriate living and nonliving materials to enhance beauty and service our declining local pollinator fauna.  

While these changes take place, the garden is by no means inactive. This semester for the first time, plots have been adopted by students, faculty and staff who want an on-campus patch of garden to tend. Food production will still be a large part of the garden's overall mission, as will serving as a learning environment for students and the community.  

"We are so excited for the changes afoot in the garden, and for what this means for our campus," says Shanna Eller, sustainability director at University of the Pacific. "The combination of growing food organically alongside the native species really highlights the conditions and choices we have ahead of us in California."

To keep abreast of the latest developments in Robb Garden, visit their Facebook page or follow the garden on Instagram.