Posts tagged “Lotusland”
What We Killed This Thursday
Encephalartos brevifoliolatus Originally uploaded by Haarnaald Encephalartos brevifoliolatus is a cycad species first described in 1996. By 2004, the 2 known female plants were gone and the population consisted of just 2 males. While scientists and conservationists were making arrangements to save these two plants, one was stolen and the other chopped to pieces. They […]
Spring break, day 5: Lotusland part 8
My favorite part of the garden by far was the cycad garden. Ganna Walska put this garden in later in her life. She sold a significant amount of her jewelry to be able to afford the cycads. This particular cycad is a male of the species Encephalartos woodsii. This is an incredibly rare species and […]
Spring break, day 5: Lotusland part 7
The succulent garden felt strange to me because of the deciduous trees nearby. One of the oddest gardens was the blue garden. Ganna Walska planted as many foliage plants with blueish foliage as she could find in this garden. There was an incredible planting of cacti and euphorbs near the main house. This is a […]
Spring break, day 5: Lotusland part 6
The topiary garden was fun, but pretty standard. The main lawn had some very bizarre contrasts – like these huge agaves against a manicured lawn. Thankfully, we headed back into the shade at this point. I was working on a terrific sunburn. In the shade palm garden, a lot of the plants were fruiting. I […]
Spring break, day 5: Lotusland part 5
We walked through the orchards to the gardens surrounding the house. Then we walked down a path lined with olive trees to a hidden cactus garden.
Spring Break, day 5: Lotusland part 4
The gardeners recently put in this small garden designed to attract beneficial insects so they could cut down on the insecticides they used to deal with pests. The really interesting part of this picture, though, is the tree in the center: a dawn redwood. The dawn redwood is a very interesting tree with a very […]
Spring Break, day 5: Lotusland part 3
The water garden used to be a swimming pool. Ganna Walksa, the creator of the garden, kept a narrow lane as a pool and filled the rest with water lilies. We weren’t there at the right time to see them blooming, but it was still a very calm part of the garden. Near the house, […]