Windmill

For the Roeding 100 celebration, Mayor Gus Morrison and Mayor Lily Mei graced our "Mayor's Window."

A windmill has been present in the display garden for many years. Photos of the windmill are often undated, so a check of the old catalogs would help date the first instance of the windmill. See the Nursery Garden History for other windmill photos.

In the 1939 landscape plan, there is no windmill indicated on the plan. However, the 1937 bulb catalog, the 1938 catalog and the 1939 California Horticulture catalog have the windmill! The first movie (so far) that had a windmill in it is from 1942.

The original windmill was built by Bill Cull (CR) the same person who built the historic retail center (now gone).

The current windmill was built by the Friends of Heirloom Flowers, placed in its current location, and dedicated in 1999. It was restored by the Rotary and friends in 2017.

The first windmill, seen in the catalog and magazine pictures, was located near the dawn redwood in the succulent garden.

The windmill in the 1990s was very dilapidated, holes in the roof, blades broken, and not a lick of paint when it was replaced in 1999.

The Windmill Colors

Would you believe that it took many hours of negotiating with various people to get the right colors for the windmill? This windmill was recreated in 1999 using the old dilapidated and faded windmill as a guide by the Friends of Heirloom Flowers. We don't know what colors that they used but 17 years later the colors had faded to an unpleasant weak yellow and an outdated color that reminded some of us of the color of a faded teal jacket with huge shoulder pads from the 1990s. We know that FOHF did not have any reference color since all the paint was gone on the original windmill.

We looked at faded films and old photos from the FoHF archives.

We decided to go with a Dutch blue color and a butter yellow and white white trim. Barry Jennings patiently waited for us to decide and we think that it was worth all that talk. Some days the Dutch blue color perfectly matches the sky. We are thrilled by his work!

If you want to use the same color scheme, the colors were from Sherwin Williams and the color code will be here when we get the codes which have faded on the can! The labels are at the bottom of this page.

1940s

Advertisement for the Eleventh Annual Bulb Show from 1942.

The 1947 catalog cover showcases the bulb shows.

The original windmill provided an interesting backdrop for this Mexican band. Musical entertainment was provided during the bulb shows. Tulips, daffodils, and other flowers were grown in the area where the rose garden is now. Bulbs in spring. Roses in summer and fall.

The original windmill was used during some of the bulb shows between the 1940s and 1960s. (Unknown date)

Tulips surround the windmill in this still from an early movie.

Young women with cut flowers. (from movie)

...”our Display Gardens and test plots are a riot of of gorgeous color.”

And cars. In this 1942 moving picture you can see the formal and adobe gardens in full bloom. A 1940-1 Lincoln Zephyr V12 made its appearance next to the windmill.

Young girls in Dutch outfits.

The sad sad windmill, predecessor to our current windmill. Was this the first windmill built by Bill Cull, who is same Cull as Cull Canyon? (BR) Or was it a second one? This windmill has board and batten siding. More pictures of the old windmill can be seen here.

A flowering tree was originally in the center of the garden, not the windmill. The FOHF decided to put the windmill in this location rather than by the succulent garden.