Finally, I’m at Lotusland!!! I am a little nervous. They’re checking our credentials to make sure we’re worthy of touring without a docent. I’m trying to look cool. You know like I belong there, I don’t need to be “escorted”, when in reality I’m so geeked-out and eager to be on my way that I can hardly stand the waiting. Okay the word comes down…we pass! We are off, on our own…in paradise…I am sure the docent tour would have been lovely, and I would have learned many things, but I needed to move at my speed. Even if you’re a member (as we are, thank god I was in-the-know on that one) your time in the garden is limited. We had just a little over 2.5 hours to see it all!
This was the original entrance that led to the Madame Walska’s home (I'm on the inside looking out)...
After entering the gate you travel down this fabulous drive with Agave attenuata flanking the road on both sides.
Look at the size of the trunk!
The Cycad garden was incredible…
Encephalartos Ferox
Encephalartos gratus
Encephalartos horridus 
Macrozamia communis
There were so many beautiful Bromeliads! Seeing them in this environment certainly helped me to understand the lighting conditions that they thrive in.
Look another Vriesea imperialis! 
Vriesea fosteriana
Dunno...but I love it...
King palm
I love the criss-cross pattern of the foliage on this palm
Aeoniums 
The “famous” Oyster fountain
Aloe marlothii
Close up of Aloe marlothii 
Aloe plicatilis Fan Aloe
The Lotus pond
And the Lotus pond bog gardens, on either side of the benches 
Wow…Agave bracteosa… 
Agave bracteosa, close up. This is the biggest one that I’ve seen “in real life,” Isn’t it graceful?
Agave gypsophila… so curvy! I need one! (I know…I need them all!) 
Isn’t it sexy? 
Agave victoria-reginae…seeing this one it dawned on me that I didn’t yet have one of these in my collection (problem solved thanks to online shopping)
Agaves in the distance...
Crown of Thorns
My fondness for Barrel Cactus is growing. These are spectacular! 
Euphorbia ingens Weeping Form, near the former home of Ganna Walska. 
Euphorbia ingens close up 
Aeonium Schwarzkopf and the tiled parking area in front of the home. 
Something I’m sure I would have learned from the docent but I found on their website…”Santa Barbara receives only about 16 inches of rain a year, so you may be impressed -- or perhaps startled -- by the vast amounts of water required to keep the garden going. Luckily the property has its own well. What's more, as the country's only sustainable ornamental garden, Lotusland no longer relies on chemical fertilizers or herbicides.” Go Lotusland!Dragon tree or Dracaena draco
Wow.
Also from their website…” Walska didn't always seek out plants in remote locales. Ms. Wolf explained how Walska created her Dragon Tree forest by driving around the neighborhood. "When she found a good specimen, she had her chauffeur knock on the front door and offer the owner some money. If someone didn't want to sell, she usually had a case of champagne delivered and that changed their minds." I like her style!Behind the home, look at those Banana!
And the Moorish pond with its long tiled rill
The Neptune fountain
The smell walking along under the lemons was intoxicating!
The Dunlap Cactus Collection - From a sign near the entrance we learned this is the Dunlap Cactus Collection of Merritt Sigsbee Dunlap, friend of fellow cactus enthusiast Ganna Walska. His collection, including 530 specimens representing over 300 different kinds of cacti and 40% of them grown from seed, was gathered over a 70-year period and donated to Lotusland in 1999.
Birds Nest Fern (we've left the Dunlap Cactus Collection)
Tree fern and Alocasia odora
And our time in the garden draws to an end. Oh and I finally bought something!
Having seen the stunning Agave bracteosa at Lotusland I was in love. They were selling a good sized pup for $7, so naturally I had to have it. Of course I completely forgot that my parents bought me one at Cistus just a month ago. Perhaps I’ll plant one in the ground and keep one in a pot and see how they perform. 
And my big score…they had an Encephalartos horridus! It’s small but I am so happy to have it!
I was so impressed by Santa Barbara; it seemed a gardener’s paradise. I asked the lady in the gift shop if she was a gardener. She was, and completely agreed that she was living in plant-heaven. Turns out she grew up across the street from Lotusland, on the other side of the “pink wall” she said that her brothers used to dare each other to climb over the wall and into the gardens, back when Madame was still living.Ok I must say I was disappointed when I started going through my Lotusland pictures, I didn’t have nearly the fabulous photos that I thought I would. I think somewhere along the line I forgot what I was seeing with my eyes was not magically being recorded by my camera, plus it was a beautiful sunny day, the kind of day that creates harsh shadows and makes macro garden “big picture” photography a very tricky thing. I don’t feel I fully captured the beauty in the garden. You just need to go see it for yourself!
After spending several hours ogling plants at the 
It didn’t quiet turn out the way I had hoped (I didn’t buy a single thing). But it was a great nursery to visit and took me to a part of town I wouldn’t have otherwise gone to, where I discovered a 
Cactus Jungle targets the Bay Area shopper and prides themselves on their locally grown plants. Makes sense…if you can grow these beauties in your own back yard why would you want to bring them in from elsewhere?
Many of their plants are already potted up in terra cotta pots, which for me is not a plus. I fear it adds to the cost, definitely adds to the traveling weight, and results in waste because I don’t really care for the look (so they would have to be repotted anyway). But, I bet it’s a huge positive for most of their customers. After all terra cotta is one of the best container materials for agaves because it’s virtually impossible to over water anything in a clay pot. Another bonus, since they are already potted their customer doesn’t have to go home and risk poking an eye out, or breaking of a sculptural leaf, replanting something.
Everything was very healthy and large, in fact that was another reason why I didn’t purchase. Most everything I considered purchasing was too big to haul around with us for the rest of our vacation, since we were only 5 days into the 14 day adventure. If we had been headed straight back to Portland after Berkeley I would have definitely bought a couple things. 
Madagascar Palm
Now that I’m looking at these pictures I am wondering how I passed on this beautiful specimen? (Agave scabra ??)
When I enquired as to the hardiness of a particular agave I was told all their agaves are good to 25 degrees, except the tropical Agave attenuata which needs to be protected in the 30’s. I’d never heard the attenuata referred to as tropical but it makes sense.
Since getting home from vacation and looking them up on line I’ve discovered they have a lively 
Right across the street from the nursery was this huge Philodendron bipinnatifidum (at least I think that's what it is...)
While shopping at CB2 and the Crate & Barrel Outlet I noticed these amazing violet flowers on a vine, I have no idea what they are but they are beautiful. 
Bougainvillea… 
And these Leucadendron, a favorite cut flower of mine and here they are growing in street-side planters. 
On the way back to our hotel we stopped for gas. And WOW! Growing right there by the gas station was a Callistemon tree! Not a shrub but a whole row of big beautiful trees! 
I love Berkeley.