Speakers Suzanne Tobey, left, and Susanne McEwen, a Garden Club of Santa Barbara member, attend Monday’s celebration of new olive trees planted at Mission Historical Park. 
The Garden Club of Santa Barbara crowd at Monday’s dedication. 
The original plaque at the olive tree grove honoring those who died in World War I. 
One of the new olive trees planted at Santa Barbara’s Mission Historical Park. 
An interpretive poster is displayed at the dedication.
More than 50 local residents and supporters attended a celebration on Monday marking the planting of five new olive trees at Mission Historical Park, near the intersection of East Los Olivos Street and Alameda Padre Serra in Santa Barbara.
The small grove of trees was planted by The Garden Club of Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara Parks & Recreation Department to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first olive trees planted by The Garden Club to honor those who gave their lives in World War I. The city has committed to watering and nurturing the olive trees for the next three years.
Speakers at the event included Susanne McEwen, a club member who lives just above the Memorial Olive Grove on Lasuen Road and was the force behind the restoration of the grove. Other speakers were Suzanne Tobey and club president Anne Rhett Merrill.
“The Garden Club of Santa Barbara celebrated this past Veterans Day marking the 100th anniversary of the 1919 planting, upholding the club’s long-standing tradition of civic involvement and historic preservation,” said Tobey, conservation chair of The Garden Club.
Mission Historical Park, a 10.5-acre state and local historic landmark, contains many points of interest, as it once was part of the lands attached to the Santa Barbara Mission. The Franciscan fathers sold a portion of the park to the City of Santa Barbara in 1928, while the remainder of the park was donated by the Franciscans in 1948.
The lower portion of the park, directly across from the Mission, contains the A.C. Postel Memorial Rose Garden with more than 1,500 rose bushes. The upper portion, beyond the lawn area, contains walking trails and the ruins of Mission water systems, including a reservoir that was part of the municipal water system until the mid-1980s. The original olive trees in this area were planted in 1891.
In addition to the five new olive trees, The Garden Club also funded a new interpretive sign that will be installed in the coming weeks near the intersection of East Los Olivos Street and Alameda Padre Serra. The sign will serve as a guide to park visitors, denoting ruined structures and their original uses and providing a brief history of the olive grove. The Parks & Recreation Department relocated the original plaque commemorating the 1919 planting so that it can be easily seen when visiting the grove.
Those recognized at the dedication were Karl Hutterer, Jones Land Use Planning, Don Olson, Jaime Pierce, Kim True and Waters Land Surveying Inc. for their contributions to the project.
Founded in 1916, The Garden Club of Santa Barbara is a nonprofit, volunteer organization dedicated to encouraging the knowledge and enjoyment of gardening, the art of flower design, the protection of the environment and native plants, the preservation of the historic and horticultural richness of the community, and the active support of civic projects. The Garden Club of Santa Barbara has been a member of The Garden Club of America since 1918.
Click here for more information about The Garden Club of Santa Barbara.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Rochelle Rose can be reached at rrose@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.