Mission gets Native makeover

A meaningful rededication at San Gabriel MissionFollowing extensive research, native plants are being planted in the gardens surrounding the mission. To commemorate the garden renovation, members of the Gabrieleno Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians held a mid-morning ceremony June 27 to rededicate the gardens and the memorial erected in memory of their ancestors who built the mission.

"Here we are with the descendants of the ancestors for whom this memorial was dedicated," said Chief Anthony Morales Sr. during the ceremony. "Our parents, our grandparents inherited the mission cemetery. It's very meaningful, because now this garden here has our own native plants, our sages, our medicine plants."