The Santa Barbara County Horticultural Society is pleased to announce that the society’s current president, Debby Lipp, was the recipient of the Bouquet of the Year award at the Jan. 8 awards and board installation dinner meeting held at the Louise Lowry Davis Center in Santa Barbara.
The Santa Barbara County Horticultural Society this year celebrates its 140th anniversary; it is one of the longest running horticultural societies in America, and is the oldest nonprofit organization in California.
The Bouquet of the Year is the highest honor that the society awards. It is given to a person or organization who has excelled in the advancement and promotion of horticulture in the Santa Barbara area.
The award was given in the earlier days of the society, and re-established as an award in 1959.
This award has been given out annually since 1959, with prominent well-known recipients that include such familiar names as Pearl Chase, Oswald Da Ros, Madam Ganna Walska, Catherine Adams, Dr. Katherine K. Muller, Rudolf Ziesenhenne, Bruce Van Dyke, Jerry Sortomme, Carol Bornstein, Paul Gripp and Dr. Bob Haller.
The award committee is comprised of all past recipients, and this year 19 of them voted to give the honor to the society’s long-time president and local geranium expert, Debby Lipp.
The award and accompanying “bouquet”, which was a beautiful succulent Pelargonium specimen donated by member Dr. David Tufenkian, was presented to Debby by past Bouquet of the Year recipient Randy Baldwin, who received this award in 1987.