Pioneer Information
Born in Corning, Iowa, Wimmer moved to San Diego, California, in 1912. She studied landscape architecture at the University of Oregon before returning to San Diego in 1932, where she worked as a schoolteacher and developed a small residential design business. Wimmer opened her own office in 1950 and by 1954 was the first woman landscape architect in commercial practice in San Diego. As her practice grew, she hired Joseph Yamada, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, who became her partner in 1960. The firm worked on numerous significant projects in the region, including the Copley and Kunzel gardens; planning work for the Revelle Campus of the University of California, San Diego; and the landscape design for SeaWorld San Diego. Wimmer continued to expand her residential practice and was known for gardens rich with plant texture and a restrained color palette. She remained active in the firm until 1967 and was named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1976. The firm continued under her name after her passing in 1980 and is known today as Wimmer, Yamada and Caughey.
