The signature lotus blossom

All the while, though, she was searching for the "Truth," for her life's mission. She didn't know at the time that she married (and four years later divorced) him, but her last husband, self proclaimed Lama and Tibetan enthusiast Theos Bernard, introduced her to what would become Walska's passion and an enduring tribute to her colorful and creative life- Lotusland.

The 37-acre estate became, from the time she bought it in 1941 until her death in 1984, her spiritual refuge, her challenge, her pride and her joy. The result, now under the watchful care and management of the Hanna Walska Lotusland Foundation, is an unparalleled botanical treasure, fulfilling Walska's wish as stated in her will "to develop Lotusland to it's maximum capacity into the most outstanding center of horticultural significance and of educational use."

Considering that she had no horticultural knowledge, Walska's sense of drama and design as well as her creative boldness a\earned her the respect well-known landscape architect Lockwood de Forest as well as Ralph Stevens, then Santa Barbara's Superintendent of Parks who said, "She has an artist's feeling, using plants for stage settings."

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