Our new museum exhibit tells a story about the burden of celebrity Burbank endured during the early 1900s. The constant stream of visitors to his Santa Rosa home and gardens and Sebastopol experimental farm were delaying his plant experiments and his business was suffering. You’ll learn about the rise and fall of the Luther Burbank Company, set up with great fanfare by outside promoters in 1912 to market Burbank’s work for him. View an original seed box; and replicas of the colorful old-fashioned seed packets, materials, and logos. They were used by Luther Burbank Company representatives who traveled the country promoting LB Co. and selling his seeds. Learn why The Luther Burbank Company lasted only four years, until Burbank once again took control of his catalogs, his marketing, and his work.
A popular continuing exhibit features “What Blooms In Our Garden.” It uses changing photos taken through the seasons, and includes a site map visitors can take with them to find the featured plants in their actual settings.
Visitors also can admire an oversized photograph taken in 1915 when Edison, Ford and Firestone came to see Luther Burbank in Santa Rosa.
We have a display where visitors are encouraged to place their contributed “Daisy Dollar” stickers to help us “Fix Our Pickets” and make needed repairs to the aging picket fence which surrounds this Registered Historic Landmark site.
The Carriage House Museum exhibits feature a variety of subjects, all with an underlying theme: Yesterday and Today at Luther Burbank Home & Gardens, where important things have been happening for more than a century!
