Rachel Spaeth is a PhD candidate in the Horticulture & Agronomy Graduate Group at UC Davis and the Garden Curator of the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens (LBH&G) in Santa Rosa, California, where she has served in many capacities for the last 13 years. Rachel is currently characterizing the genetic components of 75 taxa of Plums (Prunus sp.) bred by plant wizard Luther Burbank using whole genome sequencing to reconstruct a complex breeding map. Her project utilizes living and preserved collections at LBH&G, Burbank Experiment Farm in Sebastopol, and the ARS Wolfskill Germplasm repository in Winters, CA. Her future plans include teaching horticulture at Santa Rosa Junior College and certifying LBH&G as a biodiversity hot spot in an urban center.