In 1873, a woman named Eliza Tibbets received an unexpected gift from her friend, William Saunders, who happened to be a horticulturist at the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.
Knowing that Saunders liked to figure out the science of growing plants, we might presume Tibbets may have thought a lovely bouquet of Camellias would be special. Those rare flowering plants found in the far-flung lands of eastern and southern Asia would be charming to put on her windowsill at her home in Riverside, California.
When the package arrived, her friend had sent three Brazilian navel orange trees. He explained that the trees had come from Bahia, Brazil, and would grow very well in the semi-arid climate of the town situated alongside the Santa Ana River.
“I like oranges,” Tibbets may have said while donning a pair of work gloves and grabbing a shovel.
It turns out the trees did like the weather in Riverside, and soon, the citrus revolution in this Southern California town was in full bloom.