What Will Become of Lompoc’s Bodger Meadows?

The Bodger acreage at Ocean Avenue and V Street has been snarled in bureaucracy for years. Bodger heirs want to do something with it. It lies just outside Lompoc city limits. Some people foresee urban sprawl. All parties wonder what gives.

First, the history: Bodger Seed Company grew flower seeds in the Lompoc Valley for 90 years. Five times it planted thousands of flowers to create enormous living American flags.

Lompoc’s 200,000 red, white, and blue larkspur appeared in national newspapers and magazines and on TV. They were photographed from space and drew uncounted tourists, much like rumbles of launches draw them today. Lompoc became Valley of the Flowers and the Bodger flags a destination.

Largest Flag in the World it was billed July 4, 1942, to a crowd gathered at Ryon Park for dedication. The flag covered nine acres. The flag staff was golden calendula. Mayor Harold G. Thompson gave the principal address. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave it the front page in color.

In 1943, the banner was planted again, this time in curved rows to simulate a flag waving in the wind. In 1945, sweet peas substituted for larkspur. In 1952, the Chamber of Commerce requested a special planting for the first Flower Festival. The Lompoc Record reported, “Visitors from every state, numbering between 1,600 and 2,000, swarmed over the roads of the vivid, fragrant fields and investigated the flowers from a closer vantage point the entire weekend.”

The flag was not planted again for 50 years. The Bodgers were busy stacking awards. Between 1933 and 1978, Bodger & Co. won 52 awards from All-America Selections, many in development of zinnias, petunias, marigolds, larkspur, and asters. From the Royal Horticultural Society in London, Bodger brought home 153 awards. No one rivaled them.

Finally in 1999, Lompoc saw a new flower flag, but on a wall. The Lompoc Mural Society commissioned a painting of Lompoc’s Flower Flag. You can see it today at 131 South H Street on the south side of the building.

Then in 2002, in response to the 9/11 tragedies, Howard Bodger had an idea: the first live floral flag in 50 years. This one seemed to generate the biggest reaction of all.

“Howard Bodger, President of Bodger Seeds, had been absent when the first flag bloomed. He was busy flying U.S. Army Air Corps supplies for the Chinese fighting the Japanese,” Katherine McDonald wrote for the Record. “But the 2002 floral flag was Howard’s idea: to reach back into the company’s history and do something that had not been done for a half century.”

Reader’s Digest published a satellite shot from 423 miles up. PBS’s California’s Gold with Huell Howser brought their cameras. It was a big deal. It is remembered.

But seven years later, Bodger Seed Company sold most of its product lines. On May 1, 2009, their Lompoc fields began to turn vegetable green, and the company began selling properties. 

“We felt it was something that needed to be done to ensure the competitiveness of our product line in the future,” said CEO and fifth-generation owner Kim Bodger.

Today, unused Bodger buildings remain in disrepair. An earlier Bodger plan died at the Local Agency Formation Commission in 2023.

At last Tuesday’s Lompoc City Council meeting, Planner Laurie Tamura gave background. Land-use planner Ginger Andersen presented a more modest plan: two hundred lots, 150 apartments, agriculture on the Bailey Avenue side, two parks, a pool. Next step is applying to Santa Barbara County. It will take 18 months to two years.

I detected a glimmer of hope. State legislation is more encouraging. Three councilmen seem open to annexing.

And Jack Bodger, son of Howard, was present and speaking. Maybe it’s Bodger magic, but maybe middle ground can emerge.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct the spelling of Ginger Andersen’s name and her job title, which is land-use planner not attorney.