As a music collective, it is focused on providing a free, nurturing atmosphere for creative expression among its individual members as well as the group as a whole.

[1][2][3] Based on a mutual desire to provide a network of support for San Diego's experimental and improvised music community, Marcos Fernandes, Hans Fjellestad,[4] Damon Holzborn, Robert Montoya, Marcelo Radulovich, and Jason Robinson established the Trummerflora Collective in the Spring of 2000.

The collective grew out of performances at local spaces and events such as the Casbah,[3] as well as the ...and the reindeer you rode in on compilation released in late 1999.

Various new members joined throughout this period, including Kristy Cheadle, Lisle Ellis, Curtis Glatter, Tracy McMullen, Joscha Oetz, Al Scholl, Scott Walton, and Ellen Weller.

By its second year, it had hosted performances by a variet of renowned experimental artists, including Eugene Chadbourne, Haco, Bill Horist, and Pamela Z.