A visit to Lotusland garden in Montecito, California in October 2013

1. Madame Ganna Walska, a wellknown Polish opera singer and
socialite, purchased the estate in
1941 and spent the next 43 years
creating Lotusland. The
spectacular collections of exotic
plants throughout the 37-acre
property are a very personal
expression of Walska’s penchant
for the dramatic, the
unexpected, and the whimsical.
After her death in 1984,
Lotusland became a nonprofit
botanical garden and opened to
the public in 1993.
www.lotusland.org
Welcome to Lotusland

2. The entrance from the parking lot. All garden tours are lead by
docents. These slides follow the tour route through the gardens.

3. The Japanese garden area

4. A view of the pond in the Japanese garden.

5. Giant trunks on old palm trees

6. Blue pool lined with abalone shells

7. Close up of the blue pool

8. The lotus pool in October. The lotus plants
bloom in summer.

9. Vista across the lotus pond

10. One of the cactus garden areas

11. Barrel cactus next to a house that was built,
but not lived in.

12. Mutant twisting and weeping cactus

13. Under the “upside down” trees

14. The garden of giant ferns and begonias,
growing under ancient oaks.

15. One of the amazing old oaks

16. Oaks and giant tree fern

17. A swimming pool with a beach of imported
white sand and giant clam shells.

18. A garden of rock and cactus

19. Putting the cactus in scale

20. A view of the topiary garden and garden clock.

21. Topiary closeup

22. Topiary and the big lawn

23. Looking back on the topiary garden from the tiled
plazas.

24. One of the pebble mosaics in the plaza

25. Landscape outside the residence

26. Looking out from the primary residence

27. The view back from the big lawn. An ancient
Monterey cypress in the center.

28. The outdoor theatre and odd statues.

29. The bromeliad garden.

30. The bromeliad garden.

31. The bromeliad garden.

32. A view of the Blue Garden from the Bromeliads.

33. A woodpecker storing a seed in a palm trunk.

34. The cycad collection—one of the largest in the
world.

35. The 3 Bachelors—the last 3 living specimens of a species and all
three are males.

36. A final view from the garden to the coast mountains.