 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. We're back again at Lotus Land in Santa Barbara, California. Steve Timbrook is giving us a tour of this fabulous garden. Well, Curtis, I'm really glad you're here today on a good sunny day. And this is a public garden, so the public is welcome to come here? Yeah, it's a public garden, but we have a number of restrictions from the county because we're in a very exclusive residential neighborhood. And so all of our reservations, all our people visit by reservation. So they should call first and get the reservation? Yeah, they should call. And this is funded and provided for by? It's run and operated by a private foundation, and it's totally privately funded. There's no government money involved with it. We depend on an endowment left by Madame Volska, and then memberships. We have over 2,500 members and grants and donations. And I see you've got roses here. Yeah, these roses are really a good thing for us, Curtis. We've been able to garden this now for five years, totally sustainably. We haven't added any fertilizers other than compost, teas and mulches, and we haven't used any pesticides. So you're selecting only those varieties that grow well for you, too? Yeah, this garden right now has varieties of hybrid teas, but they're ones that really do well in a coastal California climate where you get a lot of moisture in the air. And you've got another garden that actually is intended. It's pretty, but it's intended to support the beneficial insects. Because with our sustainability efforts, one of the things that we do is biological controls, and we've found that if we plant plants that attract beneficial insects, they'll spread throughout the garden and help us maintain it. I see another one of my favorite plants here, the Daylilies. They're easy to grow. Yeah, pretty easy to grow in Santa Barbara, for sure. And there's a lot of different varieties you can get. We've certainly chosen just one for the mass color effect, but there's a lot of different variation that you can support here. An interesting fountain here, and the water runs down the middle of the pathway. Yeah, you know, this garden is one that Madame Volska didn't modify very much, and it really follows the main form that the Govitt family did when they designed this garden, when it was their home in the 30s. I like this wall we're walking through. Yeah, the hedges here are pitosporum. It's a plant from Queensland in Australia. Eugenias, the small hedges that border the path are also from Australia. Another part of the fountain here. Yeah, isn't that a nice little grill that comes down into another little bubbler? And I see you're making topiary, and this is interesting how the topiary begins with the form. Yeah, we started this garden about three years ago to replace a former topiary garden that was in major decline, and we had a local topiary specialist who designed the frames for us, and we trained the plants to the frames, and then later on, as they get bigger and bigger, the plants grow outside the frame and you just clip to it, but you never see the frame. And it's important to choose plants that will do well in your area. Oh, yeah, you have to have plants that do well, you have to have plants that will take a lot of heavy pruning, but it really gives you a wonderful effect. And I notice here you've got plants that do well throughout the Southwest, maybe not all of these, some of these wouldn't be hardy. Yeah, we certainly choose, we have a much easier here because we very, very seldom get new frost. But these are succulents, they're very low water users, that's important to us because we are often under water restrictions in California, and we're using senesio medrillesi along the sides and then various other succulents in the arcs of the clock. And you've got a whole other garden devoted to succulents. Yeah, we have one garden that's strictly succulents and ones that are not cacti and not euphorbia. Let's go see that. So, I thought you'd like to see a different succulent garden. We looked at some around the topiary garden, around that clock. This garden, we don't do cacti, we don't do the succulent euphorbias, we concentrate on plants that store the water in a swollen stem. Like that one right there. Yeah, that one, you wouldn't know it, but that's in the grape family. And the succulent doesn't have to be in a crash left family or anything? No, it doesn't, it just has to have water storage. So we've got a number of different families in here that usually are not succulent but have some succulent members. Right, we've got... This is in the milkweed family, this is our PGM. Yeah. Yeah, we're already in here. This is in the cucumber family, the Giardanthus. Really? Yeah. In the swollen root area, or crown area. Correct, that's right. Plants that we would know otherwise kind of look different. If they've come from a very dry environment, they've adapted kind of in all the same way. That's right. And we look at... Pack of podiums here from Madagascar, from Namibia. Look at that. From Namakwaland in South Africa. A lot of water storage in the stem, not in the leaf. Yeah, and also the protection of the spines, which you kind of associate with cacti as well. But again, not cactus. I really like these over here. What a nice color. The deep burgundy color is really a favorite of people. It's an unusual cultivar, it comes from South Africa and it's called Aeonium Schwarzkopf. Which would mean brunette in Africans. Looks almost like a rose here. Yes, or like a little windmill or something. And for most of us, these are house plants. But some people can grow these outside, like you can. Yeah, yeah, we don't get much frost. So in fact, most years we don't get any frost. So we can grow a lot of these things that other people can only grow indoors. We can grow them outdoors, you're around. Look at this little calinkoi. That's in my office as a house plant. Oh yeah, do you like the little markings on the edge of the leaves there? Very attractive. Well thanks, we've seen a very formal garden. Then we've gotten to see these succulents. And there are a lot of succulents we can grow outside, but some we grow as house plants. Thank you. Well Curtis, I'm really glad you came. It was a pleasure to have you here.