Word: manzanita
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...searching for specimens. An only child, he began growing caterpillars into butterflies at the age of six. At eight he became a student member of the California Academy of Sciences. At 12 he joined the Sierra Club. At 15 he discovered a member of the heather family, a Presidio manzanita, which had not been seen for 50 years. This subspecies, Ravenii, was later named for him. He did his undergraduate work at Berkeley, got his Ph.D. at UCLA and entered teaching, but not a cloister; he also developed a gift for bringing people together for worthwhile projects...
...else loves. So three years ago, right after buying his first house, he set out to uproot the prize roses the previous owners had planted. While neighbors looked on in horror, he tore out the camellias too. In their place he put California poppies, fragrant sage and drought-tolerant manzanita. "Where everything is lush and green, maybe it's appropriate to grow roses," explains Wheatley. "But here it just doesn't feel right. For me it's almost a spiritual thing. The plants in my garden belong to the deserts of this region, and having them here helps me keep...