Partners & Programs

Teri and Pat Guilles call their garden a “pollinators’ dream,” but wonderland or paradise would be even more accurate. While sweeping ocean views may initially captivate visitors, the landscape’s vibrant mix of color and texture quickly steals the show. Built along a descending flagstone path, the first peek of the garden offers a showcase of shifting green hues that belie the colorful spectacle below. Thoughtfully designed for beauty and resilience, it’s an eco-friendly masterpiece bursting with blooms from over 65% California native plants, such as artemisia sagebrush, yarrows, blue-eyed grass, island buckwheat, California lilac, an abundance of salvias, and more. Teri, a certified Master Gardener, designed, built, and maintains the entire garden, utilizing hand-watering and drip irrigation techniques. The recirculating fountain, rain barrel, and an array of fruit trees, including olive, avocado, and pineapple guava, provide the garden with a final polish that doesn’t neglect functionality. And why does Teri go through all this effort? She’d rather not pay for a gym when she can get a great workout tending the garden while also welcoming a buzzing pollinator brigade of birds, butterflies, and bees! With its coastal, colorful landscape, this year’s grand prize winner is clearly a Santa Barbara County classic.