75 years of being green

Suzie Harrison

Everything seems to be coming up roses, gardenias, birds of paradise

and a plethora of other colorful varieties, and they have been for

some time for the Laguna Beach Garden Club.

The group will celebrate its 75th anniversary on Oct. 26.

“The founding members were all fairly young, they did a lot of

landscaping and planting eucalyptus trees,” Patricia Weier said. “It

was very much a men’s and women’s club.”

In 1933, 178 trees were planted in public areas all over the city

with an additional 200 trees planted on home sites and on open hills.

Examples include the eucalyptus trees on Forest Avenue.

Weier said garden clubs took off in America during the 1920s. The

Laguna Beach Garden Club is actually part of a federation of garden

clubs that have local, district, regional and state levels.

Nonetheless, Weier and member Polly Dix were sure that Laguna’s

had to be the best.

It was formed by a group of friends interested in gardening when

they held a gardening party at Frank Miller’s Villa Rockledge home.

The club through the years has worked on promoting and preserving the

beauty of Laguna, protecting the environment and gathering and

sharing information pertaining to gardening.

World War II brought about marked changes to the club. Because of

the war, the number of men in the club diminished. Victory gardens

became the popular manifestation, while previously enjoyed tours and

flower shows were quelled because of gas rationing.

Club members donated flowers to the USO Recreation Center in town

and brought plants to the injured soldiers at the Santa Ana Army Base

Hospital.

There have been many contributions and changes over the years, but

since its inception, the club has contributed to the support of

entities and projects parallel to beautification, horticulture and

environmental protection. The club has contributed funds to sustain

the Memorial Garden by the Sea at Main Beach and the Hortense Miller

Gardens, among others.

“We established and care for the Pocket Park on Forest Avenue,”

Weier said. “It’s amazing all the different facets of the club.”

As part of their diamond anniversary, the club is publishing a

limited edition pictorial book, “The Secret Gardens of Laguna Beach.”

It’s a 64-page, full-color book that takes the reader on a tour of 31

private, residential Laguna Beach gardens.

Dix and Weier said that the research was intensive for the book

and that they screened over 60 gardens in the city.

“It’s a celebration of our 75th anniversary and the beautiful

gardens people have created in this town,” Weier said.

There is a small section of the book that is a retrospective of

gardens and landscapes from Laguna Beach’s past, Weier said.

“We went to the historical society and found a bunch of old Laguna

Beach Garden Club scrapbooks,” Weier said.

These books are kept in vaults at Wells Fargo Bank for

safekeeping. She said that after a president of the club had served

his or her two-year term, he or she would be given a scrapbook that

recorded all the things the club had done during that time. It made

for an permanent record of the club that is growing.

There are 133 members in the club of all ages.

The club’s biggest fund-raiser is its garden tour, which takes

about six months to prepare -- choosing the gardens, selling tickets

and doing promotions.

“Last year, we sold out. We had about 550 people on the tour,” Dix

said. “It was a big hit. We had some really spectacular gardens.”

To order “The Secret Gardens of Laguna Beach,” send $33 (which

includes postage) to Laguna Beach Garden Club, P.O. Box 362, Laguna

Beach, CA 92652.

The garden club meets at 9:30 a.m. the second Friday of the month

September through May at the Neighborhood Congregational Church, at

340 St. Ann’s Drive.