Thursday, October 6, 2016

Lotusland, the leftovers

I've somehow managed to stretch my Lotusland visit into eight blog posts — I wasn't stalling — I just wanted to include as many photos of this magical and wondrous place as I possibly could. Today is that eighth and final post.

These photos were taken throughout the garden and are in order in which I took them. They just didn't work into any of my earlier, area-specific, posts.

Aeonium power!

And that! It was closed (locked) but oh how I would have loved to venture inside. Or even better have brought it home. The look of it reminded me a little of the one I saw in Barbara Blossom Ashmun's garden.

So stylish, every bit of it.

I love large, low bowls.

More Aeoniums!

This one appears to be growing right out of a rock.

Pachypodium madness!

Fabulous Aloe plicatilis...(or whatever it is that they're calling it these days, since it's no longer an Aloe)...

Furcraea macdougalii, I believe?

Wow...a forest of Beaucarnea!

And these cuties...

Gargantuan Euphorbia...

At first I thought this was a section devoted to the ocean-themed Agaves; Squid (Agave bracteosa) and Octopus (Agave vilmoriniana)... but that's not A. vilmoriniana but rather A. gypsophila, oh well, it was a fun idea.

Agave victoriae-reginae

Blooming Cactus (sorry, I couldn't find a sign)

Scadoxus multiflorus, I believe.

Now this may be the only part of the garden that I just don't "get"...

I love the idea, but where it falls short is that it's not completely over the top. There shouldn't just be a few giant shells, but they should be piled on top of each other. At least that's my vision.

I do love the wall with it's planting pockets.

To sparse, to "spaced"...

Time was getting on so we just did a quick pass through the fern garden.

Enough time to fall under the spell of the tree ferns, and wish we could have a forest at home.

And finally a section I missed during my first visit in 2009.

Such a Mediterranean vignette...

The water stairs...

And thus ends our visit to Lotusland! I hope you've enjoyed the in-depth look at the garden. If you missed an earlier post here are links to them all: Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven (this being the Eighth).

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

14 comments:

  1. I've loved your wonder through Lotus Land, sorry this is the last post. Lots more lovely photos.

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    1. Thanks Spiky O...hopefully l get back again someday and can share it all over again!

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  2. I've enjoyed every one of these posts. Love that path with the tall evergreens. Very Italian. I think you are right about the shells. Not enough of them, too spread out and not enough variation in scale. Isn't it nice to know that it wasn't absolutely perfect!

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    1. I wonder if there were more shells in the original? If somehow they've been removed during the time since Madame G passed away? I must go back and research old photos.

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  3. So much great stuff to see. No wonder you have enough photos for so many posts. Those aeoniums are so cool and I love the chalky Dudlea (?) planted in the wall. I'm assuming that the fern area is well-irrigated to survive in the desert-garden climate? Those tree ferns! Nice.

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    1. Yes that is a Dudlea, a gorgeous one. I wish I could keep mine looking so nice over the summer months.

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  4. I could look at photos of Lotusland every day...

    Fan aloe is Kumara plicatilis now.

    As for the abalone shell pool, it's my least favorite feature also. It looks so hopelessly dated to me. OTOH, the huge aloes right next to it are SWEET.

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    1. What if there were piles and piles of shells? Would it be better?

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  5. Just fabulous. Thank you so much for the tour, thoroughly enjoyed it! If only I could visit it in person.

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  6. It's amazing all the details you caught that I missed, or just don't remember. There are definitely down sides to the docent-guided tours.

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    1. I can't image being constrained by a docent, ugh.

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  7. Fabulous. I keep imagining how much fun that must have been for Madame W.

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  8. I think it's the swimming pool style that makes that section of the garden look so dated, so 1960's suburban southern California. Somehow it doesn't seem in sync with the house and grounds. I felt the same way about the Aloe garden with the pond and abalone shells; it just didn't push my buttons, and the aloes looked too sparse and struggling.

    So much to take away from Lotus Land, and with just two visits 20 years apart, I've only scratched the surface.

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