Ganna Walska Lotusland

Santa Barbara, CA

Ganna Walska Lotusland, acclaimed as one of the top 10 botanical gardens in the world, is located in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, CA. The garden is the historic estate of opera singer Madame Ganna Walska who owned the property from 1941 until her death in 1984. The gardens were created by her over the four decades she owned the property. The gardens have been open to the public since 1993, with tours by reservation only. Comstock Landscape Architecture, Inc. teamed up with Santa Barbara's Arcadia Studio to design the new pond and stream configuration and key garden elements for the Japanese Garden, which was created in the late 1960's but never finished. The restoration and renovation will include rebuilding the koi pond, rejuvenating the plant collections, redesigning pathways to improve accessibility, and creating new accessible garden viewpoints with the intention of preserving the historic layers of this treasured garden.