Lotusland Silver Anniversary Year

Lotusland celebrates silver anniversary with “Gardens in Paradise” tours

Our second preservation garden, Lotusland, in Montecito, CA, is celebrating twenty-five years as a public garden in 2018. Lotusland is a thirty-seven acre estate and botanic garden created by Madame Ganna Walska over the last forty years of her life. The recent wildfires that ravaged the greater Los Angeles area came perilously close to the garden, but thankfully there were only a few spot fires that were able to be put out quickly and the garden did not suffer any significant damage. Likewise, Lotusland was also spared serious damage from the devastating mudslides in January. Visitors will continue to enjoy its extraordinary collections including rare cycads, cacti, palms and euphorbias. Additional gardens feature ferns, aloes, lotuses, water lilies, bromeliads and cactus garden with more than 300 species. 

Gardens in Paradise, presented in partnership with the Garden Conservancy, is a garden visitation series on six dates, as part of Lotusland's celebration of its 25th year and includes eleven gardens in the Santa Barbara area. They range from classic and historic to modern and contemporary–all of them fascinating in design, execution, and vision. All tours feature a noted garden expert for greater understanding of the history and horticulture of the properties and an intimate social/culinary experience. April, May, and June tours sold-out and limited space remains for the September 20, October 20, and November 15 tours.

To make a reservation or for more information, please call 805.969.3767, ext. 104, or read more on the Lotusland website. 

 A bit of history of the Garden Conservancy and Lotusland:

• In the early 1990s, the Conservancy helped Lotusland become a public garden. In March 1990, the Garden Conservancy’s Advisory Committee (the predecessor to our current board of directors) voted to accept Lotusland as our “second sponsored garden.” The Conservancy agreed to assist Lotusland’s trustees in their efforts to open the garden to the public by spreading the word and publicizing the significance of the garden. 
• Before Lotusland opened to the public in September 1993, we also offered Garden Conservancy members the opportunity to visit Lotusland on special two open days, June 8 and July 27, 1991.  
• Participants in our 2013 Society of Fellows garden-study tour to Santa Barbara will also recall visiting Lotusland’s extraordinary plant collections, spectacular landscapes, and other attractions.

Page updated May 30, 2018