Ganna Walska Lotusland, also known as Lotusland, is a non-profitbotanical garden located in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California, United States. The (15 ha / 37 acres)[1] garden is the historic estate of Madame Ganna Walska. The County of Santa Barbara restricts visitation via a conditional use permit: Lotusland botanic garden is open to the public by reservation only, with walking tours 1½ to 2 hours long.
History
Ralph Kinton Stevens purchased the land in 1882; he and his wife, Caroline Lucy Tallant, named the property "Tanglewood". They established a lemon and palm nursery and eventually added other tropical plants to the collection and were among the early plantsmen of Santa Barbara.
In 1916 the estate was sold to the Gavit family, from Albany, New York, who renamed it "Cuesta Linda". They added landscape elements, garden structures, and the main residence designed in 1919 by Reginald Johnson in the Mediterranean Revival style. In 1921–1927 they commissioned additional landscape buildings and alterations to the residence in the Spanish Colonial Revival style from George Washington Smith. His work includes the water garden pool house and the distinctive pink walls of the estate.
The gardens were created over four decades by opera singer Madame Ganna Walska, who owned the property as a private residence from 1941 until her death in 1984.[1] She was assisted in landscape planning and garden design by Peter Riedel, Ralph Stevens,[2] Lockwood DeForest, and Joseph Knowles.[citation needed] The garden was opened to the public in 1993.[1]
Here bromeliads cover the ground between large coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia). Other notable plants include a branched pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelinii), Trithrinax brasiliensis palms and giant ponytail palms (Beaucarnea recurvata).
Cactus garden featuring a collection of columnar cacti begun in 1929 by Merritt Dunlap. Over 500 plants, representing about 300 different species of cacti in geographically organized groups. Notable specimens include species of Opuntia from the Galapagos Islands, Armatocereus from Peru and a complete collection of the genus Weberbauerocereus. Accent plants include Fouquieria columnaris (boojum tree), dry-growing bromeliads and several Agave species. The garden was designed by Eric Nagelmann and opened in 2004. A recent addition in 2014 completed Nagelmann's design.
Cacti and euphorbias gardens
Abyssinian Banana (Ensete ventricosum) at Lotusland
Lotusland has over 900 specimens of cycads, with nine of the eleven living genera and more than half of the known species represented. The collection includes three Encephalartos woodii, among the world's rarest cycads and extinct in the wild.[4]
Featuring a horticultural clock 25 feet (8 m) in diameter, bordered by Senecio mandraliscae; a boxwoodmaze; and a "zoo" of 26 topiary animals, including a camel, gorilla, giraffe and seal. Other frames are shaped as chess pieces and geometric shapes. Lotusland received an anonymous $1 million gift to endow the topiary garden in 2014.
