More About Our History

In 1918, at the same time members voted to join The Garden Club of America, the club changed its name to the “Garden Club of Santa Barbara and Montecito.” The early years of the Garden Club were shadowed by WWI, the minutes stating that their “war work would be the planting of gardens and teaching people how to plant and tend their victory gardens.” However, the club was able to hold its first flower show a year after formation. Following the end of the War, a special meeting was held at the Old Mission to dedicate the Victory Trees, a group of olive trees with a plaque to commemorate the successful termination of the War. The year 1919 must have been a most memorable one for members, as meetings were held at “Arcady”, “Glenoaks”, “Piranhurst”, “El Fuerides” and “Mira Vista”.

The first two Garden Club meetings of 1920 were cancelled due to an influenza outbreak. Another issue that year concerned the increase in GCA dues from 50 cents to $2.00. Many members felt that was too much to pay and that our club should resign from GCA. One of the original members called a special meeting to discuss the situation as some members thought it would be a disgrace to resign from GCA. The club regrouped and was energized. They paid the increase in GCA dues and increased its membership cap to one hundred.

In 1926, The Garden Club of America held its very successful Annual Meeting in Santa Barbara with 93 delegates arriving by train from New York City via Pasadena. Participants were amazed and delighted with the recovery and rebuilding efforts following the devastation of the June 1925 earthquake just a year earlier.

In 1930, the Garden Club went on record to protest oil drilling in the immediate vicinity of Santa Barbara. It also gave valiant aid and support to the countrywide menace of billboard advertising, reporting that it had been successful: Standard Oil Company destroyed 1,200 of its signs along roadways. It continued its aid to Save the Redwoods League of California. Of note, were the 1938 minutes of the Annual Meeting with a plea from the President requesting regular attendance and more support for the Flower Show – the Garden Club was holding two Flower Shows every year!

With the outbreak of WWII, our club tried to carry on with the dignity and tradition of its past history while finding a proper channel to contribute to the war work. Later, meetings had to be curtailed due to lack of gasoline. However, Mrs. Peter Cooper Bryce wrote during her Presidency in 1943 and 1944 that our club activities continued: it planted the amphitheater at Camp San Luis Obispo, the hospital entrance at Camp Cooke and the women’s barracks at the marine base in Goleta. The group also maintained a Victory Garden and sold produce at the Farmers’ Market. It kept fresh flowers at Red Cross headquarters and local hospitals. With the war behind us, in 1947, our Club held a successful flower show in conjunction with the annual community horse show.

In 1952, Santa Barbara again hosted the Garden Club of America Annual Meeting in April. We provided Ficus retusa trees for planting on both sides of a block in downtown Santa Barbara and a Redwood tree for Manning Park. Later efforts to continue the planting on State Street seem to have been abandoned due to the “remarkable resistance from proprietors of businesses to our efforts.” Planting efforts then were directed to Cottage Hospital and the Community Chest. As the decade came to a close, our membership cap was eighty-five, and we no longer had any men in our membership.

Efforts at keeping Santa Barbara beautiful were enhanced by member, Pearl Chase, who was honored at one meeting in the 60s for “almost single handedly being responsible for it.” The Garden Club continued its battle against drilling for oil in the Santa Barbara Channel, becoming advocates for having all platforms removed. In 1968, Montecito was dropped from the name of the Garden Club, leaving it as it is today, “The Garden Club of Santa Barbara.”

Our involvement in environmental issues increased in the 1970s following the tragic oil spill in 1969. We became more involved in the Child’s Estate (now the Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens) by having weekly work days there. We hosted a zone meeting for 83 delegates. The long tradition of providing Christmas Baskets to Visiting Nurses was discontinued in 1975 when the Garden Club decided to make Christmas wreaths for worthy organizations.

Recycling became a common word at our meetings during the 80s. A club newsletter about our projects and upcoming events was sent out three times a year. We dedicated ourselves to helping the Music Academy of the West restore its grounds, and we contributed funds for the landscaping at Girls Inc. The Garden Club of Santa Barbara became a tax-exempt organization in 1982.

In 1992, we hosted the Zone XII meeting. We voted to endow a perpetual scholarship for a horticulture student who meets Garden Club standards and criteria for the study of landscape gardening, design, botany or horticulture, by contributing the Prudence Clem Fund of $20,000 to the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.

We moved into the 21st Century in 2004 when the Board of Directors voted to distribute board minutes via “email”. The Budding News was born via email also. The following year, minutes of our general meetings were sent via email as well.

During its 100-year history, The Garden Club of Santa Barbara has been associated with garden projects mentioned above and also at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, the Museum of Natural History, Casa del Herrero, Santa Barbara High School, Lotusland, Laguna Cottages for Seniors, Alpha Resource Center, Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden, Elings Park, Santa Barbara City College, Montecito Union School, the Animal Shelter, Goleta Slough, Arroyo Hondo Preserve, Phoenix of Santa Barbara, and Lake Cachuma. Our footprint can be found in many other places as well.

To fund these projects, the Garden Club has sponsored many fundraising events. Over the years, Fairs and Harvest Brunches have been held. Members have opened their homes and gardens for flower shows and tours. Distinguished speakers have been featured at sold-out luncheons. All events have been garden related, and items sold were often grown or handmade by our members.

We find that past efforts continue to blossom, and we continue to observe many of our older traditions in civic projects by installing gardens and contributing  plant materials, both priorities of our membership. Presently, we try to hold a Flower Show every other year for the pleasure of the community. The tradition of enjoying coffee or tea together prior to meetings continues. We enjoy sharing what we know – our Horticulture and Conservation Committees are two of our most popular committees. Traditionally, we take a trip to another city every year or two, having visited over the past fifteen years the following cities and gardens: London, Napa/Sonoma, Pasadena, Woodside/Atherton/San Francisco, Northern San Diego County, Seattle, Savannah/Charleston, Descanso, Huntington Gardens, Bixby Ranch in Long Beach, Carmel and Filoli.

As we enter the second decade of the 2000s, our club continues to thrive and to maintain the enduring qualities that inspire our actively engaged members. Budding News has become a popular and essential way to communicate between meetings. A newly formatted notebook documents our members’ gardens. We extensively documented some private and notable local gardens for the prestigious GCA Smithsonian Collection. Our presence in the community is recognized and appreciated, as we create weekly flower arrangements for the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara and holiday centerpieces for Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care patients. “Lady Buds” provides monthly table arrangements for Casa Esperanza.

A recent successful luncheon, boutique and floral design presentation raised the necessary funding for community projects. The Green Schools Program, Santa Barbara Zoo, Lotusland, Museum of Natural History Butterfly Garden, Wildlife Care Garden, and Casa del Herrero were happy recipients.

Through our long range Partners for Plants program with GCA, we removed invasives and restored native plants at Gaviota State Park. We provided and helped plant 100 Portola Sycamore trees for the Carpinteria Bluffs restoration project. Many were propagated ourselves at Casa del Herrero. We donated funds and planted natives at Parma Park, following damage it sustained in the Tea Fire of 2008. We designed, funded, and planted a healing garden at the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara. An annual in-house silent auction/treasure sale adds to our projects budget. Our meeting speakers have been outstanding in their fields, educating us in garden history and design, horticulture, flower arranging, conservation issues, and much more.

 Our enthusiastic and creative members held a successful GCA Flower Show at El Presidio in 2010 and invited the community to attend. In 2012, we collaborated with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art to create 22 floral exhibits for “Art of the Arrangement”. Our in-house Horticulture Show featured plants from the 100 Best California All-Star list.

Members have enjoyed trips together to Washington D.C., Virginia, Hearst Castle, Cal Poly Arboretum, and Santa Fe. As we celebrated GCA’s 100th birthday in 2013, we planned our very own 100th in 2016. We reflect on our many community treasures where we meet, including: the Santa Barbara Art Museum, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Montecito Covenant Church, Natural History Museum, Friars Lounge at the Mission, Music Academy, Lotusland, Casa de Maria, El Montecito Church, the Historical Museum, All Saints By The Sea, and Maritime Museum. We are grateful for the friendships we’ve made and our connections and contributions to this extraordinary community.

Alice Van de Water, Chairman, History Committee, 2005

Updated: June 2008 & 2012