Garden tours are part of spring rituals as likely to arrive as maypole dances and sweet peas. Although the La Jolla Historical Society’s Secret Garden Tour reaches its 11th annual status this year on May 9, La Jolla has a unique history of other garden tours and flower shows associated with springs of the past. The first garden tours in La Jolla date to the early 20th century when Ellen Browning Scripps opened her magnificent ocean-front gardens, tended by 10 gardeners, to the public as a charitable and philanthropic gesture, stating: “La Jolla has no park and I have all this space here… when I divide what it costs me by the number of people who enjoy it, I think it is one of the most economical civic duties I could perform.” Especially in the spring, people arrived from all over the world to enjoy Ms. Scripps’ gardens planted over a series of terraces rolling toward the sea with ribbons of highly colorful perennials and carefully clipped parterres in the French tradition. The skeleton of the gardens remain today off Coast Boulevard as part of the Museum of Contemporary Art. The first real organized tours of private gardens, however, were the purview of the Woman’s Auxiliary of St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church. The auxiliary put its first tour together as a fund-raiser in 1936. It grew quickly in popularity and by 1942 had expanded to feature eight gardens with viewing from 1 to 4 p.m. on a single day in spring. Tea was served and cuttings were sold from the various gardens visited. The ticket price was $1.10. In 1948, there were 11 gardens on the auxiliary’s tour, ranging from large older Muirlands estates to those being newly developed on La Jolla Rancho Road. The St. James garden tour continued for many years. The gardens visited, ironically, included some of the same ones featured decades later on the historical society’s tour, such as the Copp’s garden in the 1400 block of Muirlands Drive, proving, no doubt, that gardens planted by Kate Sessions with oddities such as monkey pod trees have a timeless fascination. The St. James tour featured the garden in 1950 when it was the property of Dr. and Mrs. E. F. F. Copp. When the garden was featured on the historical society’s tour in 2006, the property had passed ownership to Dr. Copp’s son. Another annual garden-related spring event of the past was the May Flower Show presented by the La Jolla Woman’s Club. A report from 1930 records: “Clubhouse grounds housed a lovely nook of ferns, rock and begonias while a charming little group of toadstools and frogs and a great many colored pottery jars were effectively grouped in the grounds and under the pergola.” All toadstools considered, history records that spring events of La Jolla’s past entertained a great deal of frivolity. In 1940, for instance, the La Jolla Garden Club held a tea and flower show in Ms. Scripps’ landmark lath house. Participants were asked to bring “Gone With the Wind” bouquets. Prizes were awarded for the best bouquets that might be given to Scarlett O’Hara and Melanie as they paraded through an imagined Tara barbecue. We can imagine that Scarlett’s bouquet was red roses and Melanie’s — well, pale blue delphiniums. — “Reflections” is a monthly column written for the La Jolla Village News by the La Jolla Historical Society’s historian Carol Olten. The Society, dedicated to the preservation of La Jolla heritage, is located at 7846 Eads Ave. and is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.