Alice Keck Memorial Garden, Santa Barbara

On a recent trip to Santa Barbara Botanic Garden I got this book called Alice's Garden, by Anne-Marie Castleberg. It's about the Alice Keck Memorial Garden in Santa Barbara, which I had yet to visit. With 30 minutes to spare before our dinner plans, I jetted over to this free public garden with my daughter to see just how special it was.
I admit before seeing this book I had never even heard of the Alice Keck Memorial Garden (or Alice Keck for that matter). I also admit that none of my family that live in Santa Barbara even realized it was there (but then again, none of them had been to Lotusland either). And...I will also admit that I visited the garden on a whim, after just flipping through the pages of the book for 30 seconds to look at the beautiful pictures from Ralph Clevenger. My pictures posted here do not do this place justice. I was tired from hiking around the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, was managing my 4 year old (almost 5 year old!) and trying to go meet family in a few minutes. The plus side: this beautiful place is a *free* public park- so if you go visit it based on my recommendation and are disappointed, oh well, it didn't cost you anything. BUT... if you go, and are blown away by one of the coolest free public parks in California.... please remember to thank me! I was blown away, and will probably visit it every time I go to Santa Barbara.

The author of Alice's Garden is married to Grant Castleberg, the landscape architect that designed this beautiful space back in the mid-70's (dude- Grant, spruce up your web page! Show us your pretty designs!). Alice Keck was a wealthy socialite that bequeathed over 50 million dollars to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara's Cottage Hospital, the Humane Society, and the Museum of Art.

In addition to her financial donations to the Santa Barbara community, she donated this piece of land, over 4 acres of prime Santa Barbara real estate which is now named in her honor. The location, at Arrelaga and Garden Street, had gone through many changes over the years. Once an experimental farm, a fancy hotel, and on the chopping block to become a high-rise building, this space is now reserved as a garden for her legacy.

As huge Alice in Wonderland fans, we found it entertaining to get lost in "Alice"; a healthy, mature, beautiful garden. Alex and I wandered along the pathways with no clue as to where we were heading.

This inspirational space is pesticide free. In 2004 Santa Barbara adopted IPM (Integrated Pest Management) for all of their public areas. This garden demonstrates how you can have a lush garden without the assistance of chemicals.

This Ceiba insignis tree was gnarly looking but beautiful. We came across it while following the sound of a violin....

The violinist had found a comfortable spot in a patch of nasturium, and didn't seem to mind her new audience.

Alex and I continued on to the pond, where she was very excited to find this turtle hanging out on a rock.

We sat there and watched the turtle for several minutes while it did absolutely NOTHING, yet we were enthralled.

Well, that was until I looked over to my left and saw that we were missing out on the action of a gazillion other turtles that were swimming around. How did I not see them earlier? There were tons! (we later learned this park is nicknamed Turtle Park by some of the locals!)

The Brugmansia hybrids were to die for...

After visiting Alice I finished reading the book within a day. I was in awe of the beautiful space that was created, and loved seeing how many people were out enjoying the space. I WISH Sacramento had something like this! If you can't get to Santa Barbara anytime soon, I highly recommend the book Alice's Garden. If you don't want to buy the book, you can enjoy some additional pictures at this article I stumbled upon by Santa Barbara landscape designer Billy Goodnick that he wrote a few months ago. Enjoy the summer!