(Image: The Wild Flowers of California, Mary Elizabeth Parsons, 1916)
By Betsy J. Green
In the spring of 1919, Theodore Payne of Los Angeles had visited Santa Barbara and encouraged folks here to plant wildflowers. Now, in June, certain areas of the city such as Oak Park and Alameda Park were showing swaths of color contributed by “Blue Gilias … large areas of Coreopsis, Tidy-Tips, and Blazing Stars … Several varieties of Phacelia, including Wild Canterbury Bell, Phlox, Thistle Sage, and Farewell-to-Spring.”
Betsy’s Way Back When book — 1918 — is now available in local bookstores and at Amazon.com. This is the fifth book in her series of the history of Santa Barbara, one year at a time. Learn more at
Sounds like the parks were beautifully full of color. Maybe it should be repeated now.