A. C. Postel Rose Garden Mission Historical Park, across from Santa In 1955 the city rose garden began with a donation of 500 choice rose bushes. In 1959 the Santa Barbara Rose Society was formed, and in 1962 the society asked the city park commission to let it sponsor the garden. Through the dedication of the rose society along with City Parks Department efforts, the All-America Rose Selections Committee awarded the garden accreditation. This special honor provides the city garden with the All-America Rose Selections donated by the growers one year in advance of their sale to the general public. Each year these beautiful, award-winning introductions are on display. The rose garden was recognized in the past as the #2 municipal rose garden in the nation for the excellence of its maintenance and the beauty of its location. In 1976, with the implementation of Proposition 13, funds for the Santa Barbara Parks Department took a substantial cut, and the roses lost their full-time gardener. All work in the garden was done by volunteers then. It immediately began to deteriorate, and by 1980 suggestions were being made to bulldoze the roses and replace them with tennis courts. In 1982 a committee was organized to save the rose garden. In 1984 the Virginia Firth Wade Endowment Fund donated $35,000 of the $51,000 needed to restore the garden on condition that it be renamed the "A. C. Postel Memorial Rose Garden". The Foundation donates $5,000 annually to assist in the maintenance of the garden. There is now a part-time gardener, regular fertilization, watering and grooming to maintain a first-rate garden. Volunteers continue to help maintain the
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The Santa Barbara Rose Society is an affiliate of the American Rose Society www.ars.org |
