Laguna Beach Garden Club Meeting

The Laguna Beach Garden Club is excited to welcome the 2020/21 year of LBGC! The first speakers of the year are Teena Spindler and Kay Havens. Both women are UCCE Master Gardeners and founding Board Members of the Great Park Garden Coalition. This is a refreshing opportunity to learn more about the creation of our very own Botanical Garden at the former site
of the El Toro Marine Base, now known as The Great Park. Join us at our first meeting of the year on September 11th, at 10am. The speaker series is available to all members of LBGC! New members are always welcome, membership information is available on our website www.lagunabeachgardenclub.org.

Teena Spindler and Kay Havens are founders of the Great Park Garden Coalition (GPGC), whose purpose is to support the creation of a Botanical Garden at the Great Park. They will share the story of the grass roots journey that began in 2017 with a handful of Master Gardeners determined to have a botanical garden retained in the Orange County Great Park Master Plan.

The vision of a world-class botanical garden inspired more than a thousand supporters, and as a result the City of Irvine identified a site for the garden, and over 30 creative designs for the Botanical Garden were submitted by students in Cal Poly Pomona’s Landscape Architecture program. The Orange County Great Park consists of 1300 acres, of which 59 acres is preserved
for the botanical garden and ensures that the land is safe from re-designation. The GPGC’s ultimate mission is to envision, inspire, protect, and guide thoughtful leaders in creating and building a world-class destination garden for generations to come. Teena and Kay are both long-time Master Gardeners. A Master Gardener is a prestigious level of knowledge to attain through the UC College system, the Mission Statement is “To extend
research-based knowledge and information on home horticulture, pest management, and sustainable landscape practices to the residents of California and be guided by our core values and strategic initiatives."

Teena is life-long garden lover and joined the ranks of UCCE Master Gardener in 2006 and lead Master Gardener volunteer to create the Farm + Food Lab garden at the Orange County Great Park in partnership with City of Irvine.

Kay also is an avid lifetime gardener and garden designer. As an UCCE Master Gardener since 2007, she helped initiate the apex educational programs that on top State and International Master Gardener awards.

They both look forward to the day when we all can walk through the gates of a “growing legacy” of the botanical garden that the Great Park Garden Coalition plans to bring to reality. Their vision is to have a botanical garden “bloom right here in Orange County.”

We look forward to a great first meeting with such special subject we can all benefit from investing in and learning about. Appreciation of botanical gardens and gardening during the Covid-19 pandemic has surged to record levels. Beautification of our local spaces and surroundings has become increasingly important to the public as we have learned during shutdowns of parks and beaches. Join the Laguna Beach Garden Club today to support projects in your community.

Laguna Beach Garden Club Meeting Information:
The Laguna Beach Garden club in accordance with CA state recommendations to reduce the rate and risk of community spread of COVID-19, will be holding meetings with our speaker series presenters remotely via Zoom. For more information about LBGC, our Speaker Series and how you can get involved, check out our website www.lagunabeachgardenclub.org.

Detailed instructions on how to access our Zoom meeting will be emailed to all members prior to the meeting.

The Laguna Beach Garden Club
The Non-profit Laguna Beach Garden Club, Inc. was founded in 1928 in beautiful Laguna Beach, CA and celebrated its 91st anniversary in February. Its members support a wide variety of projects related to education in gardening, horticulture, landscape and floral design, conservation, ecology and bird life. We are members of the California Garden Club Inc., which includes membership in the National Garden Clubs Inc. We are incorporated and have well defined by-laws with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation.