By Susi Torre-Bueno, for Let’s Talk Plants! August 2024.
I Was There – First Meeting of the San Diego Horticultural Society
We had lived in San Diego for fifteen years when a notice somewhere caught my eye – a new garden group was starting up, and it was going to meet at the then called Quail Botanical Gardens now San Diego Botanic Garden in early September 1994. At the time my family was living near SDSU, and the drive up to Encinitas seemed like a long way to go, but I decided to make the trek north to see if it might be for me. I had never been to a garden club meeting before and didn’t know too many people who gardened with the intensity of passion I had, so I persuaded my sweet mother-in-law Evey to come with me and off we went.
When we got to SDBG we were directed to the Ecke Building, which was in the midst of a major remodel. There was no electricity, and no doors on the restrooms. An older gentleman (our founder and first president, Don Walker) had strung an extension cord from the gift shop so we could have lights and a slide show. At the front of the room were four or five six-foot long tables, each covered with a dazzling array of plants, most of which I had never seen before. I knew at once that I had found my people!
The room was packed, and the lively conversations around me were all about plants, including many botanical terms I had never heard. When it was time for the meeting to begin, I sat next to a friendly looking woman, and we struck up a conversation. It turned out that she and I had both recently purchased land in Encinitas to build homes on, that her property was about half mile from ours, and that she had nearly purchased our two-acre lot but opted for one with a better view. Bobbi Hirschkoff and I became friends immediately, and we bonded on more than just this happenstance. We were both relative novices in gardening jargon, and we rolled our eyes at hearing the technical botanical language during the presentations, each thinking that we’d never master the lingo. We did, and soon we were not only using it ourselves we were visiting specialty nurseries and building up the plant collections in our new gardens, always on the lookout for plants not available in most nurseries. For many years Bobbi’s garden has been a spectacular favorite on garden tours, in part because it is filled with her colorful artwork, and she has graciously hosted many SDHS gatherings there over the years.
While I can’t recall the specifics of the talk that evening, I believe it was about the wide array of plants that can be grown in our part of the county. I didn’t know it at the time, but the folks who were speaking so passionately and knowledgably about plants were among the most-respected experts then residing in San Diego. There was Steve Brigham, a co-founder of SDHS and then the owner of Buena Creek Gardens (where I would soon be employed for several years), a destination nursery with extensive display gardens in San Marcos. Kathy Musial, the Curator of Living Collections at The Huntington Botanic Garden, was full of interesting insights on plants. The late Bill Teague, a much-beloved garden designer and plantsman, described the display plants he had brought from his Del Mar garden. They talked about all the plants on the display tables at the front of the room and held us spellbound. Over the next 20 years more than 7500 different locally grown plants were displayed at meetings, and you can download our Plant Forum compilation I compiled with the names and descriptions of many of these plants at https://sdhort.org/PlantForum.
Don Walker spoke about the goals of and plans for the San Diego Horticultural Society – a place where plant lovers could meet and share their knowledge about horticulture. By the end of the evening the newly formed group had many members and I later learned that within a month there were 100 members! Within a couple of months, the SDHS had outgrown the available space at SDBG, and Don arranged for us to meet at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, where we remained for decades. One member, Diana Goforth, edited the monthly newsletter, which kept us informed about upcoming meetings and included information about all the plants from the display tables. Never would I have dreamt that I would become the newsletter editor in just two years (and continue to edit it for the next twenty years). I joined the board in 1996 soon after moving to Encinitas to build on the land we had purchased.
In a few years we had over a thousand members, thanks in part to our participation in local horticultural events, including the spring and fall Home Garden Shows at the fairgrounds. Over the decades the SDHS has been an important part of the local horticulture scene. We had a large educational display garden at the San Diego County Fair for many years, winning a lot of prizes, providing volunteers daily to answer plant questions and teaching many fairgoers about local gardening. Starting in 1995 we organized local garden tours, which are still very well attended each year. A 1997 spring tour to the famed Lotusland in Santa Barbara led to more out of town tours and included an outstanding San Francisco tour in 1999 that had us visiting some of the most iconic private gardens in that botanical dream destination. There were tours to Phoenix, Seattle, Vancouver, Philadelphia, and Portland, plus many important gardens closer to home during our annual spring garden tour.
Early on we began giving cash awards to students participating in the San Diego Science Fair, and I recall that one young man had won for his experiment: Germination rates of manzanita seeds that were passed by coyotes (turns out, coyote digestion improves seed germination). Each year we give cash scholarships to students majoring in horticulture at three local colleges. We give cash awards to gardens at the Fair, too. We annually select a local horticulturist who has made important contributions to the field, starting with Chuck Kline who was responsible for the beautiful gardens at Sea World.
“Inaugural SD Hort HORTICULTURIST of the YEAR 1996: Chuck Kline
Starting in 1974 Chuck Kline created the beautiful gardens at SeaWorld from a daunting swamp of salt-drenched soil. He was a friend and mentor to many in the horticultural community, and many rare plants remain as his legacy at SeaWorld.”
Horticulturist of the Year | SDHS Newsletter (sdhortnews.org) Full list, current 2024-1996
Our monthly newsletter, now available in digital format, includes information about local garden issues, including pests, trees, native plants, and much more. Our monthly meetings are often available on Zoom, which is especially appreciated by members who cannot attend in person.
In 2003 we published Ornamental Trees of San Diego, the brainchild of Don Walker, who photographed hundreds of local trees, and Steve Brigham, who described each tree in great detail. This soon sold out, and the revised and expanded 2nd edition, now titled Ornamental Trees for Mediterranean Climates, was published in 2005.
It is now given to each new member as an invaluable resource. One of the things I like best about this book is that it includes maps of where to see the trees in Balboa Park and at the San Diego Botanic Garden, plus a handy chart showing when each tree blooms.
I have been proud to be a member of such a dynamic organization that has done so much to help local gardeners learn about and succeed in growing plants both
indoors and in our gardens. The members of SDHS are among the friendliest and most helpful folks I know, and sharing knowledge about plants is at the heart of what we do.
Read more memories here:
FROM THE ARCHIVES: A Very Happy 28th Birthday To Us! With SDHS Memories - The Early Years (sdhortnews.org)
Susi Torre-Bueno served as the San Diego Horticultural Society president from 2003 to 2010, was newsletter editor for 20 years and instrumental in growing the organization and establishing it as a San Diego institution.
In 2012, Susi was honored as our Horticulturist of the Year.
Comments