Glendora Bougainvillea, 1977. Courtesy National Park Service.

history continued

At the time the City became stewards of the bougainvillea, their size, combined with their location along a major roadway, created a recurring safety hazard. Even with the Pittman's metal support system, the vines grew wider, rather than taller, often blocking the adjacent roadway. The City, understanding the significance of the plantings, established a maintenance plan financed by the residents of an adjacent condominium complex. The plan calls for pruning in a more cylindrical form and trimming them at the base to provide traffic clearance and visibility from the curb line outward to the street.

The Glendora Bougainvillea are significant as extant reminders of California's early citrus industry, this agricultural existence of the late 19th and early 20th century having vanished from the region. The San Gabriel Valley had been a leading citrus-producing region in the state. Glendora was a carpet of citrus groves that, in turn, gave rise to citrus packing houses, estates of citrus industry leaders, and financial institutions. Today, the snow-capped mountains still surround the palm trees, bougainvillea, and the stone wall, but rather than miles of citrus, the former working estates have been subdivided, demolished, and transformed into a landscape of suburban homes and new communities.

The Glendora Bougainvillea reflects the entrepreneurship and regional aesthetics that created the landscape associated with the citrus industry. They also serve as an exemplar: -that a unique and celebrated horticultural expression can become a tool for developers to leverage in their planning efforts, and in the process provide an authentic signature, as was the case with the Bougainvillea condominium complex that the vine currently surrounds. To date, this living landmark is the only property listed on the National Register within the City of Glendora and is testimony to the strong community that has tended to these beloved horticultural heroes with affection and respect.