Screen shot of Madame Walska from Lotusland’s introduction video.

My bucket list of gardens to see was down to just one – the world-famous, one-of-a-kind Lotusland. This month I got to see Lotusland, so today it’s show-and-tell time about this once-private garden in Montecito, California (95 miles north of Los Angeles). Montecito is most often in news about famous residents like the Sussexes and Oprah. There was also that stand-out episode of “Hacks” named for the ultra-wealthy enclave where it was set.

Lotusland made my bucket list largely because of its masses of desert plants – looking other-worldly to this Easterner – and I think I’d heard of its inclusion on someone’s “10 Best Gardens in the World” list.

Then there’s the fascinating woman behind Lotusland – Madame Ganna Walska, a well-known Polish opera singer and socialite, who bought the estate in 1941 and spent the next 43 years creating Lotusland. 

The spectacular collections of exotic plants throughout the 37 acres are a very personal expression of Walska’s penchant for the dramatic, the unexpected, and the whimsical. Lotusland is home to several extraordinary plant collections…After her death in 1984, Lotusland became a nonprofit botanic garden and opened to the public in 1993. Source.

This month I was fortunate to visit Lotusland, thanks to the intervention of Billy Goodnick, Santa Barbara landscape architect and garden communicator. He arranged for a private tour with one of their most experienced docents – Christine Gress. Both Christine and Billy sent me suggested captions for my photos. (Otherwise, you’d be reading me exclaiming and “SO cool!” “What planet are we on???” etc.  So you might join me in thanking them.

Above is the Main House, by architect Reginald Johnson, completed in 1920. Billy commented on the “simple, high-contrast of strongly vertical Euphorbia and globe-shaped Golden Barrel Cactus.” The  Cactus and euphorbia plantings were installed in the 1940s.  

Here you see the one-story annex/pavilion adjacent to the Main House with more cactus on the left and a collection of Euphorbia on the right. As Billy says, “Like almost everything the Madame conceived, the killer combo of organ pipe-style cactus and Golden Barrel is all about bold strokes.” 

Here are some Euphorbia ingens, in the “weeping” form (weeping occurs perhaps as the result of stress, its own weight, genetics, viruses, or bacteria). It’s native to southern Africa. The cactus is “Golden Barrel Cactus,” Echinocactus grusonii, native to Mexico.

Billy says this is a perfect example of balancing harmony and contrast: All the cacti in this grouping share the same cylindrical form but the contrast comes from varying heights, textures and colors.

Here’s just a peek into an enormous grove of Dracaena draco, called Dragon Tree or Dragon’s Blood Tree, referring to the deep red color of its sap. It’s native to the Canary Islands.

As Billy says, it’s “Go big or go home. In the hands of any other garden designer, Dracaena draco would be a big, bold singular specimen. At Lotusland, they’re magnificently massed.”Near a 1947s-era swimming pool are the shells of “Giant South Sea Island Clams” (Tridacna gigas). It’s the world’s largest bivalve mollusk. Succulents are planted in the rock garden wall.

Christine Gress, Lotusland docent of 13 years, was my very knowledgeable guide.

Docents, and limits on visitors

Lotusland has a impressively large pool of trained docents that pre-covid, led all visitors. (Since covid, about half choose the option to self-guide.) There are currently 75 active docents there, all having received extensive training. (Christine’s training was 14-weeks!)   

Lotusland explains on its very home page that since it opened to the public in 1993, it’s been severely limited (by Santa Barbara County) in the numbers of visitors it can have because it’s in a residential area. The limit is 15,000 general visitors per season and 5,000 students per year, and there are also limits on parking and months and hours of operation. 

(What a shame. The limits not only reduce visitorship; they drive up the cost of entry to $60 if self-guided or $75 with a docent.  And advanced reservations are required.)

And about the Lotusland website – it’s gorgeous and possibly the most enticing public garden website I’ve ever seen.  Check it OUT!

Now back to my photos.

Above, “The fern garden is a great example of plant composition with a focus on foliage offering variations on green, as well as visual textures and forms.” That’s from Billy.

Blooming in red are “Blood Lilies” (Scadoxus multiflorus), in the Amaryllis family and native to Southern Africa. On the trunk of a “Coastal Redwood” (Sequoia sempervirens) is a “Stag Horn Fern” (Platycerium bifurcatum).

Here’s my pano shot of the Water Garden, where just a week later I would have seen the lotus blossoms the garden was named for.

The central pond holds 8 different types of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). They’ll bloom in Santa Barbara mostly in July and August. Terra cotta pots hold a variety of New Zealand Flax, in the genus Phormium.

In the circular lily pond on the right, tall stems are true papyrus or Paper Reed (Cyperus papyrus). Blue blossoms on tall stems are Lily of the Nile, though not true lilies of the genus Lilium. These are probably Agapanthus africanus.

View of the 1920s-era pool in the Aloe Garden, now edged by abalone shells.  Aloe Garden plants were installed in the early 1970s, with twin fountains made with South Sea Island Clam shells.

Tall palms to the right are Chilean Wine Palms (Jubaea chilensis). These have the widest trunk diameter in the Western Hemisphere. Lotusland’s collection of 41 of them is the largest collection outside of Chile. Most are 130-to 140-years old. They’re native to South Africa; 

And Billy says, “When I see the Aloe Garden I think, ‘If Vincent van Gogh were a garden designer instead of a painter as he descended into his darker days, this is the garden he would have created.’”

Old corals clumps and dark scoria (chips of volcanic rock) in the beds of the Aloe Garden.Docent Christine Gress and guest Billy Goodnick confer in the Aloe Garden.In the Aloe Garden, probably a Red Aloe (Aloe cameronii).View of the pond in the Japanese Garden. In front of it is Zen garden “karesansui” (dry white sand and rock section), which abstractly represents islands with surrounding ocean currents. On the far side of the pond is Chinese Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica). Another view of the pond in the Japanese Garden, including three antique bronze statues of cranes.A path through the Cycad Garden.In the Cycad Garden, hardy water lilies and tropical water lilies float in a shallow pond. The three large cycads at the top of the crest (as well as their pups shooting out underneath them) are Wood’s Cycad (Encephalartos woodii), which are extinct in the wild, thanks to all plants being genetically identical male clones of a single plant discovered in South Africa in 1895, and no female plants have ever been found.
The Rose Garden in the 1920s-era Parterre Garden is planted with modern rose cultivars. The yellow roses along the path are “Julia Child Rose,” and the orange roses just behind them are “Living Easy Rose,” and the rusty-red roses at the back are “Hot Coco Rose.”

Billy notes that “Although the rose garden appears to be a bit mundane compared to most of the gardens on the estate, the use of only three varieties of roses in bold blocks is another expression of Madame’s bold, cohesive approach.”

In the Parterre Garden, pebble mosaics called the “Flame Mosaics” were laid down in 1969, replacing planting beds from the 1920s. The mosaics were created by stonemason Oswald da Ros with a design by artist Jim Minah. The hedge is Euginia, probably Syzygium paniculatum.

My last stop in Montecito was back at the home of our docent Christine, about a mile south of Lotusland, where I was treated to a tour of a winding mountainside garden that would be impossible to really show you. But here’s her view of the ocean.