Taft Gardens in Ojai, California: from A(loe) to X(anthorrhoea)

Over time, some gardens achieve near mythic status. They're talked about in a hushed voice, like a secret only a select few are privy to. Sometimes there's a hint of uncertainty, as if the speaker isn't really sure that the garden even exists. This reputation seems to be directly related to how (in)accessible it is. Gardens that are virtually impossible to get into are the most likely to become the stuff of legends.

Out of all the gardens I've visited, the Taft Gardens fit into this category the best although they're not impossible to get into, as this post proves.

The Taft Gardens are located in a bucolic undeveloped part of Southern California, outside the town of Ojai southeast of Santa Barbara. The project was started in the late-1980s by developer John Taft and his wife Melody on their 265-acre property in the foothills of the Topatopa Mountains near Lake Casitas. Since the climate is very similar to what you find at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, the initial idea had been to grow South African proteas. This was soon expanded to include a wider range of plants from South Africa's Cape Province, especially aloes, as well as proteacea from Australia.

The South African Garden was created by Laurence Nicklin, a landscape designer and botanist from Cape Town who left South Africa specifically to accept this commission. While working on the garden, Laurence fell in love with John Taft's daughter Jenny and the two soon married—romance blossomed, one might say. Today, Laurence works as a landscape designer in Ojai.

The Australian Garden is the brainchild of Jo O'Connell. Her story mirrors Laurence Nicklin's. As you may remember from my recent post about Jo, she relocated from Australia specifically for this project. And just like Laurence, she found love in Southern California and settled there. Today, Jo runs Australian Native Plants Nursery with her husband Byron and still maintains the Taft's Australian Garden. 

If Jo O'Connell hadn't had an appointment the day I visited her in Casitas Springs, she would have given me a tour of the Taft Gardens—what a special treat that would have been! Instead, I set out on my own, and I ended up being the only visitor!

The Taft Gardens are privately owned, and you need a reservation to visit (easy to do: simply fill out the form on their website). You're then given directions as well as a code to unlock the gate; the code changes daily so you need to specify the exact date of your visit. Admission is free, but you're asked for a donation, which you can leave at the small kiosk next to the parking lot (see below).

The gardens occupy 12 of the 265 acres of the property. You're free to wander as you please. I took a lot of photos, and I'll let them speak for themselves. I've added captions where needed. Grab your favorite beverage and get comfortable because this is a long post.

Getting to the Taft Gardens:

Lake Casitas

Private road to Taft Gardens

It goes on for a number of miles

There are several creek crossings before you get to the Taft Gardens proper. The locked gate isn't far from this spot.

At the Taft Gardens:

Fall color at the parking lot (remember I was there in early December)

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Aloe ferox and Aloe marlothii

Kiosk where you sign in...

...and leave your donation (optional but appreciated). There's nobody there, it's all on the honor system.

Euphorbia resinifera

Yes, cycads too!

Big cycads, in fact!

I cannot describe how peaceful this place is!

South African Garden:

Aloidendron ramosissimum

Australian Garden:

Now we're in the Australian Garden

It has a more subtle beauty, less flashy that the flowering aloes

Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris) in the back, Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' or similar in the front

Tranquil and almost ethereal

Doryanthes sp. and Xanthorrhoea sp.

Banksia sp.

Lawn area near the main house

Glimpse of the main house. That's John Taft reading on the patio. I don't think he saw me—I was trying to be very quiet and respectful, seeing how this is a private space.

Magnificent oak trees, too

Pavilion

California meets South Africa...

...and Australia

These are the largest Australian grass trees (Xanthorrhoea sp.) I've seen outside of Australia

Breathtaking!

In nature, xanthorrhoeas and aloes grow 7,000 miles apart, but they do look like they belong together, don't they?

More Queensland bottle trees (Brachychiton rupestris)

And before I knew it, I was back in aloeland. It would be wonderful to go back in early January when the aloes are at their peak.

There's more to the South African Garden than just aloes—this is a restio...

...and there are plenty of leucadendrons, too

Cabbage trees (Cussonia sp.)

Another restio variety

I had a hard time tearing myself away from the aloes

Small New World section:

Agaves, yuccas and cactus along the road to the main house

There's plenty of space for Agave parryi var. truncata to flourish

The Taft Gardens are a quiet sanctuary off the beaten path. I've never been to a place quite like this, and I'm very grateful to the powers that be—the Taft family and the Conservation Endowment Fund founded by John Taft in 1981 to preserve this unspoiled piece of nature—that they allow visitors at all. 

RELATED POST:

• Visiting Jo O'Connell, plant maven from down under
• 2018 post-Thanksgiving road trip to Southern California
• Los Angeles Times article from 10/3/2001 about legal troubles that shut down the gardens for a while

© Gerhard Bock, 2019. All rights reserved. No part of the materials available through www.succulentsandmore.com may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Gerhard Bock. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States and international copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Gerhard Bock. 

If you are reading this post on a website other than www.succulentsandmore.com, please be advised that that site is using my content without my permission. Please report such unlawful use to me at gerhard[AT]succulentsandmore[DOT]com. Thank you!