If you are in the Southern California area and have NOT been to Lotusland... GO! I love being a tourist in my own city or state. I recently made reservations (yes, you absolutely need reservations) to visit this beautiful botanical garden in Montecito. The two hour walking tour was lovely. Not only did I learn about Ganna Walska - the eccentric woman who married six times and owned the property - but I also managed to learn some interesting facts about different plant species, the five elements of a Japanese garden, how to tell the difference between male and female flora... I thoroughly enjoyed and think that most anyone would be interested in the magic and many stories that lie within the walls of Lotusland. So take a camera and toy with a topiary, frolic with a Fishtail Palm (which, by the way, is a misnomer - they are actually Cycads), giggle at a bonzai Ginkgo Biloba (but beware of the female Ginkgo trees - they smell like BMs when they are producing fruit), prance amongst some Ponytail Palms (these guys are actually Agaves!) and enjoy the ostentation of imported tiles, reflection pools and paths paved with semi-precious stones.
Fishtail Palms
An impish statue in the theater garden
Madame Walska's beautiful shells that
surround the pool in which she skinny dipped
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