Welcome to Lotusland

Madame Ganna Walska, a well-known 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

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

The Japanese garden area

A view of the pond in the Japanese garden.

Giant trunks on old palm trees

Blue pool lined with abalone shells

Close up of the blue pool

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

Vista across the lotus pond

One of the cactus garden areas

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

Mutant twisting and weeping cactus

Under the “upside down” trees

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

One of the amazing old oaks

Oaks and giant tree fern

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

A garden of rock and cactus

Putting the cactus in scale

A view of the topiary garden and garden clock.

Topiary closeup

Topiary and the big lawn

Looking back on the topiary garden from the tiled plazas.

One of the pebble mosaics in the plaza

Landscape outside the residence

Looking out from the primary residence

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

The outdoor theatre and odd statues.

The bromeliad garden.

The bromeliad garden.

The bromeliad garden.

A view of the Blue Garden from the Bromeliads.

A woodpecker storing a seed in a palm trunk.

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

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

A final view from the garden to the coast mountains.