Because of the Thanksgiving Holiday, the regular meeting did not take place.

The work meeting, on November 10th, was a horticultural tour of SBCC's "Lifescape Garden." Our guide was Daniel Parra Hensel, Faculty, Environmental Horticulture Dept., Soil Manager Lifescape Garden, Santa Barbara City College.

Daniel showed us what they presently have and some of the current direction of the gardens. The garden is located on the edge of the coastal bluff above the Pacific Ocean on the east campus of Santa Barbara City College, adjacent to the Chumash Point Ethnobotanic Preserve. It is the Environmental Horticulture Departments outdoor classroom for experiments, laboratory exercises, as well as enjoyment by students and the community at large. More information is available at their website (click here).

There are many distinct areas to the garden including: a highland habitat, forest habitat, riparian habitat, dune habitat, chapparal habitat, coastal sage habitat, coastal island habitat, point conception habitat, herb garden, edible flowers and rose garden, hawaiin garden, desert plantings, fruit trees, community garden, and several picnic areas and seating benches, and much more.

The gardens are open to the public, and are well-worth a visit.

Recently, David Gress offered to co-present a horticultural tour of the Santa Barbara Zoo with the zoo director Nancy McToldridge. David made this donation to the zoo, in the name of the Men's Garden Club of Santa Barbara, as part of the fund-raising Zoofari Ball gifts.

David provided the horticultural expertise while Nancy, who has been involved with the zoo for over 30 years, provided the history.

Dave was a wealth of information and even identified a mis-labeled tree on the grounsds, so the zoo staff can remove the (incorrect) label. Thanks Dave for your donation in the name of our club!

Wishing you and your family a joyous Christmas and a healthy, prosperous New Year!