A Really Big Sandbox

A few shots from the mostly disappointing set I took at Lotus Land today.

Giant clamshell fountains.

Remains of lotus flowers that, while not wholly unappealing, were sadly the closet thing to intact lotus flowers I saw in the whole of Lotus Land.

A duck.

A pickle patch of cactus that would have been made even more entertaining with the addition of several hundred googly eyes.

A crazy freaky building-height euphorbias that either looked Escherian or Seussian. I’m not yet sure.

Italian-style garden, Moorish-style fountain, random bird caught mid-flight.

Topiary lion with as realistic a mane as any topiary lion could hope to have.

Yes, mermaids as well. By which I mean mermen. By which I mean male baubo sirens. I swear, they’re following me, which is remarkable for a species that lacks feet.

And, finally, an immensely amusing tile.

However, all the strange and exotic plants I saw cannot compete with what I learned from a simple visit to the Wikipedia profile of Lotus Land founder Ganna Walska: Far from the accomplished opera diva that some remember her as, she is believed by many to have been an influence for Citizen Kane, in which the title character’s second wife is a terrible singer.