Ganna Walska Lotusland is a nonprofit botanical garden located in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California. 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. In the early 1990s, the Garden Conservancy assisted Lotusland’s trustees in their efforts to open the garden to the public.

For more information visit lotusland.org.

Timeline

2022

Under the leadership of Garden Conservancy Director Emerita Dorothy Gardner, with support from Director Emeritus Chapin Nolen, among others, Rizzoli publishes Lotusland(March 15, 2022).

2018

Lotusland celebrates 25 years as a public garden. The Garden Conservancy partners with Lotusland on their "Gardens in Paradise" tour series, which includes three stunning private gardens in the Santa Barbara area.

Following the wildfires that ravaged much of the Greater Los Angeles area in late 2017, devastating mudslides hit Montecito in early January, destroying over 100 homes and causing fatalities. Lotusland is again spared significant damage.

2017

Japanese Garden renovation begins.

2016

Insectary Garden renovation for ADA accessibility and improved aesthetics commences.

2015

Palmetum Garden is built.

2009

Lotusland is reclassified by the IRS as a public charity. Water stairs, Cypress Allee, and main house foyer are renovated.

2001-2003

Merritt S. Dunlap's extensive cactus collection, promised to Madame Walska in 1966, is gifted to Lotusland and installed.

2000

Topiary Garden is restored by Lori Ann David, who replicates the original figures.

1999

Five-year plan is developed, which addresses cycad fungal infections and root rot; garden is expanded.

1993

Lotusland opens to the public.

1992

The Garden Conservancy invites its members to visit Lotusland on two special open days. Lotusland's docent program is established, and staff is expanded.

1990

Garden Conservancy Advisory Committee votes to accept Lotusland as its "second sponsored garden" and agrees to assist Lotusland's trustees in their efforts to open the garden to the public.

1984

Madame Walska dies and leaves leaves Lotusland to the Ganna Walska Lotusland Foundation.

1941

Madame Ganna Walska, a well-known Polish opera singer and socialite, purchases the 37-acre estate and creates the gardens over the next four decades.

1916

The estate is sold to the Gravit family, who renames it "Cuesta Linda." The Gravits add landscape elements, garden structures, and the main residence, designed in 1919 by Reginald Johnson in the Mediterranean Revival style.

1882

Ralph Kinton Stevens purchases the land and names the property "Tanglewood."