Katherine Olivia Sessions (1857-1940)
Katherine Olivia Sessions lived her life fully! Her dedication to trees, business sense, and passion for making plants accessible has shaped today’s San Diego. We invite you to celebrate her birthday on November 8, by exploring places and stories about Kate!
Join us for these three special events!
- Help plant a tree on Friday, November 7, 9:30-11:30 in Oak Park, 5235 Maple Street (at 54th Street, just west of Oak Park Elementary School)
- Get more info and register here.
Take time to visit places where Kate worked or influenced or inspired, on this map.
- Kate Sessions Elementary School, Pacific Beach
- Kate Sessions Pacific Beach Nursery Site Historic Marker and historic Tipu tree planted by Kate, Pacific Beach
- Kate Sessions Neighborhood Park, Pacific Beach
- Kate Sessions Memorial Plaque, Mission Hills/Hillcrest Knox Public Library
- Kate Sessions Statue, at Laurel and Sixth streets, Balboa Park
- Kate Sessions Way, Pacific Beach Street, site of Kate’s last residence, build in 1928
- Sessions Family Gravesite, Mount Hope Cemetery
- Mission Hills Nursery, 7-minute video about history, by current owner Tiger Palafox
- SD Central Library, portrait of Kate Sessions
- Street sign for short street, where Kate’s last residence, she built in 1928 on hill (only her house and trees she planted), now house obscured from street – ask where this is.
Be inspired! Take time for a 5-minute reading (video) of The Tree Lady, a children’s book—and then view it with your children, grandchildren or friends.
Kate was a world traveler and brought more than 140 plant species back to San Diego for cultivation, including the jacaranda tree. Today, we need to introduce trees that will thrive even when the climate changes. View 1-minute video about choosing drought-tolerant and native trees. View booklet about trees selected from warmer and drier climates and are available locally.
Planting and protecting trees. Coastal sage scrub and chaparral covered most of today’s San Diego, and Kate Sessions and trees transformed the landscape. View a history of San Diego’s landscapes in this 7-minute video. View a map of today’s trees in Balboa Park at https://www.treesandiego.org/tree-plotter.
Some older San Diego neighborhoods still have legacy trees that Kate Sessions sold or planted, protected through the decades from development and drought. View Tipu tree planted in 1928 on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach, now designated as a heritage tree.