Within a short period of time, in 1918, at the same time members voted to join The Garden Club of America, they changed their name to the “Garden Club of Santa Barbara and Montecito.” The early years of the Garden Club were somewhat overshadowed 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. 1919 must have been a most memorable year 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 problem that year concerned the increase in GCA dues from .50 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 NYC 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” as protesting against the rejoining for 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 their signs along roadways. It continued its aid to the 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 its part in 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 amphitheatre 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 horse show.
In 1952, Santa Barbara was again the hostess to 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 went 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 60’s 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 1970’s 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 workdays 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 80’s. 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 to our general meetings were sent as a document via email. During its 90 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, and more recently at Casa del Herrero, Santa Barbara High School, Lotusland, Laguna Cottages for Seniors, Alpha Resource Center, 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 events to raise necessary funds. Over the years, Fairs and Harvest Brunches have been held. Members have opened their homes and gardens for flower shows and tours. All events have been garden related and our items sold there are often grown or handmade by our members.
We find that past efforts continue to blossom and as we near our 92nd birthday, we observe many of our older traditions in civic projects –with the installation of gardens and contributions of plant materials which have long been a priority of the membership. Presently, we hold a Flower
Show every other year for the pleasure of the Community. The tradition of enjoying coffee or tea together prior to meeting 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 or 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 with 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. A Friendship/Tribute Fund enables us to honor those living or deceased. The documentation of a private Montecito garden officially listed us with the 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” provide monthly table arrangements for Casa Esperanza.
A most 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 enhances our programs budget. Our meeting program speakers have been outstanding in their fields, educating us in Garden History & Design, Horticulture, Flower Arranging, and Conservation issues.
Our enthusiastic and creative members hosted a successful GCA Flower Show in April 2010 at the El Presidio de Santa Barbara. 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 celebrate in 2013 GCA’s 100th birthday, we begin planning our very own 100th in 2016. We reflect on our many community treasures where we meet, including: the Art Museum, 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
The first two Garden Club meetings of 1920 were cancelled due to an influenza outbreak. Another problem that year concerned the increase in GCA dues from .50 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 NYC 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” as protesting against the rejoining for 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 their signs along roadways. It continued its aid to the 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 its part in 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 amphitheatre 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 horse show.
In 1952, Santa Barbara was again the hostess to 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 went 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 60’s 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 1970’s 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 workdays 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 80’s. 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 to our general meetings were sent as a document via email. During its 90 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, and more recently at Casa del Herrero, Santa Barbara High School, Lotusland, Laguna Cottages for Seniors, Alpha Resource Center, 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 events to raise necessary funds. Over the years, Fairs and Harvest Brunches have been held. Members have opened their homes and gardens for flower shows and tours. All events have been garden related and our items sold there are often grown or handmade by our members.
We find that past efforts continue to blossom and as we near our 92nd birthday, we observe many of our older traditions in civic projects –with the installation of gardens and contributions of plant materials which have long been a priority of the membership. Presently, we hold a Flower
Show every other year for the pleasure of the Community. The tradition of enjoying coffee or tea together prior to meeting 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 or 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 with 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. A Friendship/Tribute Fund enables us to honor those living or deceased. The documentation of a private Montecito garden officially listed us with the 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” provide monthly table arrangements for Casa Esperanza.
A most 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 enhances our programs budget. Our meeting program speakers have been outstanding in their fields, educating us in Garden History & Design, Horticulture, Flower Arranging, and Conservation issues.
Our enthusiastic and creative members hosted a successful GCA Flower Show in April 2010 at the El Presidio de Santa Barbara. 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 celebrate in 2013 GCA’s 100th birthday, we begin planning our very own 100th in 2016. We reflect on our many community treasures where we meet, including: the Art Museum, 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