El Monte /ɛl ˈmɒntiː/ is a residential, industrial, and commercial city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city's slogan is "Welcome to Friendly El Monte," and historically is known as "The End of the Santa Fe Trail." As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 113,475, down from 115,965 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, El Monte is the 228th largest city in the United States, and is the 51st largest city in California. El Monte lies in the San Gabriel Valley region East of the city of Los Angeles.

El Monte was literally an oasis or island in the middle of the arid San Gabriel Valley. Sitting between the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers. Residents claim that anything could be grown here due to the two rivers. Between 1770 and 1830, Spanish soldiers and missionaries often stopped here for respite. They called the area, 'El Monte,' which in Spanish means 'meadow or marsh' or 'the wooded place. Most people assume the name refers to a mountain, but the word is an archaic Spanish translation of that era, there were no mountains in the valley. The explorers had found this oasis of rich, low altitude land, blanketed with thick growths of wispy willows, alders, and cattails, located between the two rivers. They also found wild grapevines and watercress. The "Island" is approximately 7 miles long and 4 miles wide. When the State Legislature organized California into more manageable designated townships in the 1850s, they called it the El Monte Township. In a short time the name returned to the original El Monte.

Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (Spanish pronunciation: [miˈtʃel vatʃeˈlet]; born September 29, 1951) is a Social Democrat politician who was President of Chile from 11 March 2006 to 11 March 2010. She was the first female president of her country. In September 2010 Bachelet was appointed as the head of UN Women by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Bachelet won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera (who eventually succeeded Bachelet as President) with 53.5% of the vote. She campaigned on a platform of continuing Chile's free-market policies, while increasing social benefits to help reduce the gap between rich and poor.

Bachelet, a pediatrician and epidemiologist with studies in military strategy, served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under her predecessor, President Ricardo Lagos. She is a separated mother of three and describes herself as an agnostic. As well as her native Spanish, she speaks English, German, Portuguese and French, with varying levels of fluency.

Jenny Phillips (born 1949) is recognised as one of the world's premier botanical artists, and the founding director of the Botanical Art School of Melbourne.

She teaches Master Classes at the Orient-Express Hotels worldwide, at the Chelsea Physic Gardens, London and at the New York Botanic Gardens. Jenny has also been invited to speak at the Getty Museum, Hunt Institute and ASBA Conference.

She is the recipient of the Celia Rosser Award - 2009 Botanicasia Exhibition in Melbourne, a Gold Medallist from The Australian National Print Awards 1998 and has received The Royal Horticultural Society, Gold Award, London 1993

Acknowledgement of Jenny's contribution to contemporary botanical art has come in the form of being made:

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Sherwood