Non-Profit Spotlight: Laguna Beach Garden Club

April 19, 2024

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Not Your Granny’s Garden Club

Admit it: you hear “garden club” and you think of grannies who gather only to chat about begonias… snooze. Shattering that cliche, the Laguna Beach Garden Club (LBGC) is a vibrant, energetic organization with over 225 members, male and female of all ages that are focused on giving to the Laguna Beach community and having fun socializing with one another. Monthly club meetings feature top notch speakers on a range of topics from vermiculture and vegetables, to ikebana and hybridization techniques with offerings of best-selling books or exotic plants for purchase. We also organize trips to specialty nurseries and historic gardens and offer craft and jewelry making classes for members only. Meetings are held on the second Friday of the month from September – May in Tankersley Hall at Laguna Presbyterian Church, 415 Forest Avenue, Laguna Beach.

Did you know that:

• The LBGC awards scholarships to Saddleback College horticulture students and to college-bound seniors from Laguna Beach High School who are interested in horticulture and related fields.
• The club provides donations and volunteers to share knowledge and garden with students at the educational school gardens in El Morro and Top of the World Elementary Schools and Thurston Middle School.
• Club members maintain the “Pocket Park” on Forest Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach and the Rose Garden at Laguna Presbyterian Church and are benefactors of the Hortense Miller Garden.
• Our most recent accomplishment is bringing muralist Matt Willey to Laguna Beach to paint a mural at the Laguna Beach County Water District for engaging citizens in the movement to save pollinators.

The annual Gate & Garden Tour is our most important fundraising event that makes possible the scholarships, support of school gardens and other initiatives. The popular tour gives the public opportunities to view several delightful gardens that Laguna Beach residents lovingly share. We anticipate this year’s tour, which is set for Saturday, May 4, 2024, will sell out quickly as it has in the last three years. After May 1 and subject to availability, tickets will be $65 plus handling fee.