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Cycads in Santa Barbara: Three Bachelors Before Dinosaurs!

By Ron and Alexandra Seigel

Services for Real Estate Pros with Napa Consultants DRE00893924

July 23, 2014 12:56 AM

To create the Cycad garden, the owner of LotusLand, Ganna Walska, sold a million dollars worth of her jewelry. Cycads like the three bachelors pictured above are tropical and sub tropical plants that lived over 250 million years ago, before the dinosaurs. They are no surviving female plants for the three bachelors on the planet today.

Cycads reproduce via seeds contained in a cone. The photo above is a male cycad. Seeds were carried back and forth by specific beetles for reproduction. Today reproduction is done by gardeners.

Cycads are palm like in appearance with a woody trunk. The photo above is of a male cycad, genus "Alexandria Cycad from South Africa." These are all rare species, and there are over 900 species living well in Santa Barbara.

Happy Wednesday,

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Kathy Streib

Cypress, TX

Home Stager/Redesign

Ron and Alexandra- now that was interesting. So, there are no surviving female cycad plants at all??? BTW- interesting that the name of the cycad above has a very familiar sounding name!

Jul 23, 2014 01:00 AM

Hannah Williams

HomeStarr Realty - Philadelphia, PA

Expertise NE Philadelphia & Bucks 215-820-3376

Alexandra & Ron These are amazing Plants . Something you do not see in the NE section of the country Thank you for sharing these photos

Hannah

Jul 23, 2014 01:25 AM

Noah Seidenberg

Coldwell Banker - Evanston, IL

Chicagoland and Suburbs (800) 858-7917

Good morning Ron & Alexandra, the Cycads in Santa Barbara are truly stunning. I can see why you were drawn to this beautiful and rare Cycad garden.

Jul 23, 2014 01:35 AM

Debbie Walsh

SHAHAR Management - Middletown, NY

Hudson Valley NY Real Estate 845.283-3036

Love the look of these...as Hannah said we don't have anything similar to this in the North East.

Jul 23, 2014 01:48 AM

John McCormack, CRS

Albuquerque Homes Realty - Albuquerque, NM

Honesty, Integrity, Results, Experienced. HIRE Me!

Not sure what's up but unfortunately I can not see the photos. ??????

Jul 23, 2014 01:56 AM

Ron and Alexandra Seigel

Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA

Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

Kathy,

Just the three bachelors will live on without ever reproducing, the female versions are extinct. I thought the name was fun, and I even saw an Alexandra palm...I do have a picture of that too.

Hannah,

They are amazing, and in today's dollars that garden is worth a lot more. One of the plants in this garden is worth 1million dollars, and of course, only one person knows which one it is.

Noah,

Thanks for your comment, we have so many plants and flowers that I am drawn to here, and these in particular are jaw dropping, when one takes in account that dinosaurs nibbled on these...

Debbie,

Thanks, yes they are definitely unique.

By the way for those of us who live in tropical and subtropical climates, Sago palms are cycads, and look great in a garden, are drought tolerant, and not as expensive as the cycads above. A

John,

It could be your browser, I think. Not one else has had that issue. Check with AR, they may have an answer.

Tom, I am looking forward to going back and really focusing, our visit included all the gardens, and we are planning to focus. A

Jul 23, 2014 02:01 AM

Tom White

Franklin Homes Realty LLC (615) 495-0752 or www.FranklinHomesRealty.com - Franklin, TN

Franklin Homes Realty LLC, Franklin TN

Ron & Alexandra, you have the most interesting photos! The Cycad Garden must be an amazing place to visit. Is it part of Lotusland?

Jul 23, 2014 02:01 AM

Will Hamm

Hamm Homes - Aurora, CO

"Where There's a Will, There's a Way!"

Hello Ron and Alexandra, Thanks for sharing the pictures with us, next time out am out that way, I need to pay more attention. (Or give you a call)

Jul 23, 2014 02:11 AM

Michael Jacobs

Pasadena, CA

Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Good morning, Alexandra and Ron -- I've said(written) it before but it bears repeating - your blog posts continue to provide a wide range of topics guaranteed to delight, inform and entertain your readers. Interesting post this morning. Have a great Wednesday.

Jul 23, 2014 02:14 AM

Patricia Feager, MBA, CRS, GRI,MRP

DFW FINE PROPERTIES - Flower Mound, TX

Selling Homes Changing Lives

Three lonely bachelors.... how sad. What an interesting read! I have not read anything like this before. Thank you!

Jul 23, 2014 04:00 AM

Dick Greenberg

New Paradigm Partners LLC - Fort Collins, CO

Northern Colorado Residential Real Estate

Hi Ron & Alexandra - I was so fascinated by your post that I had to go read up on Cycads - strange and interesting plants! And Lotusland is a real treasure - I have to see it some day!

Jul 23, 2014 05:54 AM

Roy Kelley

Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

Thanks for sharing your Cycad garden photographs. Very interesting.

Jul 23, 2014 05:56 AM

Toni Weidman

Sailwinds Realty - Trinity, FL

20+ Years Selling Homes in New Port Richey, FL

That's very interesting, Alexandra. Those guys must be lonely.

Jul 23, 2014 06:24 AM

Patricia Kennedy

RLAH@properties - Washington, DC

Home in the Capital

Ron and Alexandra, I never knew this about cycads. Learn something new every day on ActiveRain.

Jul 23, 2014 11:32 AM

William Johnson

Retired - La Jolla, CA

Retired

Hi Alexandra, Thank you for sharing. I am adding this LotusLand garden to my list of things that I must see.

Jul 23, 2014 02:55 PM

Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties

Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN

The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

Nothing like this grows in our area either. Thank you for sharing your adventure in the LotusLand Garden.

Jul 24, 2014 05:57 AM

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Cycads in Santa Barbara: Three Bachelors Before Dinosaurs!

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