There was no difficulty in finding a man best suited to plan the
garden that was to serve as the Exposition's setting. For many years
John McLaren had been known as one of the most distinguished
horticulturists in this part of the world. As superintendent of Golden
Gate Park he had given fine service. Moreover, he was familiar with the
conditions and understood the resources and the possibilities. Of course
a California exposition had to maintain California's reputation for
natural beauty. It must be placed in on ideal garden, representing the
marvelous endowment of the State in trees and shrubs and plants and
flowers and showing what the climate could do even with alien growths.
The first step that McLaren took was to consult the architects. They
explained to him the court plan that they had agreed on and they gave
him the dimensions of their buildings. Against walls sixty feet high he
planned to place trees that should reach nearly to the top. For his
purpose he found four kinds of trees most serviceable: the eucalyptus,
the cypress, the acacia and the spruce. In his search for what he wanted
he did not confine himself to California. A good many trees he brought
down from Oregon. Some of his best specimens of Italian cypress he
secured in Santa Barbara, in Monterey and in San Jose. He also drew
largely on Golden Gate Park and on the Presidio. In all he used about
thirty thousand trees, more than two-thirds eucalyptus and acacia.