Category Timeline Stories

The Insectary Garden is renovated for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility, improved aesthetics and optimum effectiveness in attracting pollinators and beneficial insects into the garden.

The Palmetum Garden, designed by Eric Naglemann, is built around a restored path and bench in a long 514-foot axis that extends through the Cypress Allee south to the Wishing Well.

The Water stairs, Cypress Allee and foyer in the Main House, all created during the Gavit era, are renovated. The loss of a large California live oak and the removal of a beetle-infested Monterey pine result in the need for…

Merritt S. Dunlap’s extensive cactus collection, promised to Madame Walska in 1966, is gifted to Lotusland. Plants begin to arrive in stake-sided trucks and semis. Eric Nagelmann, a Santa Barbara native, donates landscape design and consultation services. Three hundred tons…

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

A five-year plan is devised to remedy Cycad fungal infections and root rot. All infected soil is removed, and a new drainage system is installed. The garden space is expanded and completed in 2003.

A docent program is established, and expanded staff are hired. A Conditional Use Permit to open the garden is granted by Santa Barbara County. The Visitor Center is completed in time for the first scheduled tour on September 15, 1993.…

In preparation for public tours, the Lotusland Foundation repairs paths, improves handicap access and performs deferred maintenance on the house and garden.

Madame Walska dies on March 2 and leaves Lotusland to the Ganna Walska Lotusland Foundation.

The Cycad Garden, designed by Charles Glass, is completed, and features over two hundred species of plants.