Ganna Walska Lotusland, also known as Lotusland, is a non-profit botanical 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. Lotusland is home to 3,500 different plants.^[2] 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.

In the 1870s the property was first used as a nursery.^[3]

Ralph Kinton Stevens purchased the land in 1882; he and his wife, Caroline Lucy Tallant, named the property "Tanglewood". This name was inspired by the abundance of oak and chaparral on the property.^[4] 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 1893, Stevens was the first in California publish a nursery catalog solely for tropical and subtropical plant material.^[4] Stevens established an irrigation system for the property to sustain these gardens. He sold part of the property. Going from the original (98 acres-40 ha) down to the currently (37 acres- 5 ha).^[4] In September of 1896 Stevens died of a heart attack, leaving the property to his wife, Caroline. She opened it up as a guest ranch and later leased the property to a local school.^[4]

In 1913 the property was sold to George Owen Knapp. who was buying up other properties in the Montecito area.^[4]

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.^[4] The Gavits hired Peter Riedel and Kinton Stevens' son, Ralph to renovate the gardens while the residence was being built.^[4] 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, stable, and the distinctive pink walls of the estate.^[4]

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] Originally she purchased the property with her then husband, Theos Bernard, and renamed the property "Tibetland". They selected this name as they intended to invite Tibetan monks to live on the property.^[5]

Shortly after purchasing the property she hired the landscape architect Lockwood DeForest Jr. He spent time editing the garden spaces to as per Madame Walska requests. DeForest designed the front lawn of the residence building. Changing it from a traditional landscape to one filled with golden barrel cacti. Many of these mature cacti were taking from the near by estate of John Wright.^[4] Madame Walska also requested that he transform the stables to a music studio. In 1942 DeForest's work on the property ended when he joined the US army.^[4]

In 1943 Madame Walska hired Ralph Stevens, Superintendent of Parks for Santa Barbara, to consult on landscape designs for her estate. In 1946 Madame Walska and Bernard divorced. She kept the property and renamed it "Lotusland".^[5] During this time Stevens main job was to purchase plant material and supervising the installation process. In 1947 Paddock Pool constructed a new swimming pool designed by Stevens. This was requested by Madame Walska because she wanted a modernize pool, but was told by consulted pool experts that the existing pool could not be converted.^[4] The following year Stevens got to work designing a grotto and the Theatre Garden. In he's last few years working for Madame Walska, Stevens final projects where creating The Blue Garden and the floral clock found in The Topiary Garden. In 1955, Stevens retired.^[4]

Between 1953 to 1956 Madame Walska managed the conversion of the old swinging pool to its current day statue of a water garden. During this process she consulted J.T. Charleson, who worked at Tricker Water Garden.^[4] Oswald da Ros was a stone mason hired by Madame Walska. He collected many of the rocks and crystals found around the property. Most notably he brought in the blue slag glass from the Arrowhead Water Company, which now lines a number of the path ways around the gardens.^[4]

The garden was opened to the public in 1993.^[1]

The Lotusland estate grounds contain several distinct gardens, including:^[6]

160 species of aloe and 85 species of euphorbias are located in this garden. Some of the specimen were brought over from South Africa, Madagascar, and Yemen.^[2] At the center of this garden is a kidney shaped pool, which features a large collection of abalone shells and a fountain created out of giant clam shells.^[7]

First created in 1948,^[2] this garden features plants with silvery to blue-gray foliage, including Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus libani var. atlantica 'Glauca'), 130 specimens of the rare Chilean wine palms (Jubaea chilensis),^[2] blue fescue (Festuca ovina var. glauca), blue chalk sticks(Senecio mandraliscae),^[2] Mexican blue palm (Brahea armata), Queensland kauri (Agathis robusta), bunya-bunya (Araucaria bidwillii), hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) and two camphor trees (Cinnamomum camphora). The pathways in this garden are lined with chunks of blue-green glass, that Ganna purchased from a local bottle factory.^[2]

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).

Featuring varieties of flowering plants that support butterflies and other insects.

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. In 1966 a cacti collector promised Ganna Walska his collection be given to her for Lotusland after his death. It wasn't until after Walska's death that the cacti collection was given to Lotusland in 2001.^[2] The garden was designed by Eric Nagelmann and opened in 2004. A recent addition in 2014 completed Nagelmann's design.

The main house is located right next to these gardens. There is a collection of cacti and euphorbias, including a mass of golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii) and large, weeping Euphorbia ingens planted on either side of the house's front door.^[3]

The Cycad Garden was originally completed in 1979 with a collection of over 200 species of cycads.^[2] The collection has since expanded to 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.^[8] These can be found beside a reflecting pool.^[3]

Featuring many types of ferns, such as Australian Tree Ferns (Sphaeropteris cooperi) and giant staghorn ferns (Platycerium). Other shade-loving plants such as angel trumpet tree (Brugmansia), calla lily (Zantedeschia), clivia hybrids and a collection of Hawaiian Pritchardia palms are present.

A small Shinto shrine surrounded by Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica), Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens cv. 'Santa Cruz'), a wisteria arbor, Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum), camellias, azaleas and several species of pine pruned in the Niwaki style.

• Citrus orchard (oranges, lemons, limes, kumquat, grapefruit, and guava)
• Deciduous orchard, with 100 fruit trees (including peach, plum, apple, pear, persimmon and fig) and olive trees from the 1880s.

The garden consists of a circular 4 tier lawn space. with the focal point being a 'stage' on the lowest level, with a backdrop of a hedge. 3 of the tiers are lined with sandstone benches for the audience.^[4] A number of stone statues are placed around this garden depicting characters from William Shakespeare's writings.

Formal planting beds and brick walkways with two central water features. Plantings include hedges, floribunda roses, and day lilies.

A variety of succulents including Madagascar Palm (Pachypodium lamerei), Aeonium, Fouquieria, Kalanchoe, Echeveria, Haworthia, Yucca and Sansevieria.

Featuring a horticultural clock 25 feet (8 m) in diameter, bordered by Senecio mandraliscae; a boxwood maze; 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.

Featuring orchid cacti (Epiphyllum), gingers (both Alpinia and Hedychium) and bananas both ornamental (Ensete) and edible (Musa).

Includes several species and cultivars of Indian lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) and water lily (Nymphaea, Euryale ferox, Nuphar, Victoria) and also bog gardens featuring taro (Colocasia esculenta), ornamental sugar cane (Saccharum cv.) and papyrus.

• List of botanical gardens in the United States
• North American Plant Collections Consortium
• Ganna Walska

• Adams, Brian (2015) [2014]. Ganna: Diva of Lotusland. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-5141-6957-5.

• Official site