Visiting LA from Tasmania and wanting to visit a local palm garden

[mfoster]

My wife and are visiting LA from Tasmania and we’d love to see a local palm garden. In Tasmania we have our own modest garden created with the support of such luminaries as tassietroy. Donovan and Colin Wilson. Can anyone help ?

[Fusca]

I would contact @DoomsDave - he has a great garden and knows most of the palm nuts in the Los Angeles area.  Unless you mean LA = Louisiana!  😄

[mfoster]

Thanks.Have followed your suggestion.

[Harry’s Palms]

Also , you might check out The Huntington near Pasedena . I was there yesterday and they have a very nice collection as well as a rain forest green house. Say hello to Conan and Honey Bun. Dave too ! One heck of a nice guy , the palms are very cool! Jungley ! Harry

[Tassie_Troy1971]

1 hour ago, mfoster said:

Thanks.Have followed your suggestion.

@DoomsDavegarden is epic 

[peachy]

It would be worth taking a little side trip to San Diego while you are in the area as there are some lovely palm gardens there.  Dave is the one to contact as he knows everybody. Most flights stop over in Hawaii so it would be well worth the time to get in touch with Realarch, his garden alone is worth the trip. Have fun and enjoy the trip

Peachy

[Harry’s Palms]

@mfoster ‘s thread reminded me to mention a trip I made yesterday to The Huntington. I hadn’t been there in almost 30 years . My friend and his wife ( palm collectors and avid gardeners) invited my and I to tag along for the day. A short 1 1/2 hour drive from Santa Paula  in traffic , probably shorter if you can hit it in the middle of the week. We spent most of the day there exploring a fraction of what is there. Our first stop , of course , was the palm garden. It is a large area with tons of mature specimens , some shady walkways through some fascinating landscaping . The plants are well marked , for the most part . We did find ourselves on our hands and knees a few times reading the tags staked in the ground when formal labels were non existent. We then toured the Japanese garden and Chinese garden , two very different approaches to landscaping. The finale was the rain forest greenhouse . Words can’t describe what is there . A great day and we even visited an art gallery on our way out of the park. I don’t know why I waited so long between visits , worth the drive . Harry

[mnorell]

You have to get reservations well in advance, but Lotusland (former estate of the late eccentric Polish opera singer Ganna Walska) is a garden you will likely never forget. It is located in Montecito, a very beautiful area next to Santa Barbara and home to numerous celebrities.

And the Los Angeles County Arboretum is a wonderful place to visit (in my opinion they take much better care of their palms that does the Huntington, which is very nearby). It was the nineteenth-century estate of 'Lucky' Baldwin, and has the tallest documented Washingtonia robusta, as far as I know. The palms were planted about 150 years ago and are really spectacular to see in person. These surround the original 1880s-era Queen Anne cottage which is a wonderful structure, and set aside a (rare) natural lake, Baldwin Lake. This has served as the backdrop for many, many famous films needing a jungle feel, from the silent era to the present, as well as television shows like Fantasy Island. It is a very large arboretum and you would want to allot a full day to see all the tropical and subtropical treats that are hiding around its various nooks and crannies.

My own biases aside, the Huntington is very much worth visiting...it has an incredible dryland/succulent garden and that is worth the price of admission if you are interested in that type of flora.

 

[Harry’s Palms]

Lotus land is very nice. It has been years since we’ve been. They had just moved the cycad collection when we were there. The docent giving the tour , this is a guided tour , knew nothing about palms. I enjoyed the stories of how it came to be and the gardens are nice . Harry

[Darold Petty]

I am so old that during my Lotusland visit Madame Walska was still alive, and peered down at us from the second floor window!     

[mnorell]

14 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Lotus land is very nice. It has been years since we’ve been. They had just moved the cycad collection when we were there. The docent giving the tour , this is a guided tour , knew nothing about palms. I enjoyed the stories of how it came to be and the gardens are nice . Harry

The risk of docent-led tours...volunteers provide a great service (usually), but of course they're often enthusiastic people who love a place but really don't know anything much off-script. A shame, but otherwise, it would be self-guided, which has its own negatives for many...

And Darold, that is amazing that Ganna Walska was still there "behind the curtain" for you...to have that legendary and eccentric artist/creator there...you waltzing through her highly original, dramatic and unorthodox creation...really adds dimension to it!!

I've been to Lotusland twice, and both were during the years when it was a closed facility except for special occasions. The first was a Palm Society event back in the day, and it was a Really Big Deal. They opened up the gates to the adjoining estate, El Mirador (a private residence), and so it was a double tour and really incredible. El Mirador had a grove of old Howea forsteriana that was so large and dense, it felt like you were someplace in Malaysia (well, or maybe on Lord Howe Island!) and really demonstrated the visual and emotional power of groving almost any species of palm. The second time I was lucky enough to finagle a private tour with one of the curators. So it was a great experience both times. But I'm realizing as I write this that it must have been 35 years ago! How time flies.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Mike from Tasmania has experienced the full @DoomsDave  PRA palm related activity experience  !