Aloes in peak bloom at the Taft Gardens outside of Santa Barbara

Visiting Taft Gardens was high on our priority list on our recent trip to Santa Barbara. Kyle had seen my previous posts about this spectacular garden tucked away in the hills outside of Ojai (2019, 2024 and 2025), but he had never been there himself. Taft Gardens is a worthwhile destination year-round, but when the aloes are in bloom (December through February), it becomes a wonderland unlike any other in the U.S. You’ll see what I mean in a minute.

The scenic drive from Santa Barbara is less than an hour. Highway 150 hugs the northern shore of Lake Casitas and affords beautiful views:

View of Lake Casitas from Highway 150

Taft Gardens is located at the end of a private road. When you make reservations (required), you receive detailed directions and the gate code for the day. Without the directions you won’t know where to turn, and without the code you won’t be able to open the locked gates.

The road to Taft Gardens is very steep in places

After you check in for your allotted two-hour time slot (either 11 am or 1 pm every Thursday, Friday, or Saturday) you’re free to roam. Kyle and I visited on a Saturday, and we saw maybe six other people — in essence, you have the garden to yourself. I hope you get to experience it yourself some day: Three miles removed from the highway, there is no man-made noise, just the sounds of nature. 

Taft Gardens has to be one of the best-kept secrets in Southern California. Some people we talked to in Santa Barbara either had never been there or they didn’t even know it existed.

Check-in kiosk and plant sale area. Many of the plants are cuttings from the garden; they’re priced very reasonably.

A bit of background about Taft Gardens for context. Summarizing from my 2019 post:

Taft Gardens was started in the late-1980s by real-estate 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. 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. 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 in nearby Casitas Springs with her husband Byron and still maintains the Taft’s Australian Garden.

For more on the history of Taft Gardens, read this excellent Los Angeles Times article from November 2021.

The cultivated gardens occupy 15 of the 265 acres of the property. There are about ten distinct sections, but Kyle and I spent most of our time in the South African Garden. Why? Three words: aloes in bloom. I hope my photos below manage to convey what an incredible place this is.

On the surface, the aloe spectacle at Taft Gardens is similar to Aloes in Wonderland, Jeff Chemnick’s private botanical garden in Santa Barbara, but Taft is even more expansive. There are thousands of aloes, many of them 10, 12 or even 15 ft. tall now. It’s like walking through an aloe forest.

We recognized Aloe ferox, Aloe candelabrum, Aloe marlothii, and Aloe speciosa, but others we weren’t sure about because the plants aren’t labeled. It doesn’t matter. It’s about the experience, not plant names. And what an experience it is. I knew what to expect, but it was Kyle’s first visit, and he was positively awestruck. I hope my photos manage to convey some of the sense of wonder we felt walking among the aloes.

Aloe marlothii

Same Aloe marlothii with Kyle (6’4") for scale

Aloe marlothii

Aloe marlothii silhouette

Aloe speciosa

Aloe speciosa

Kyle photographing a trio of Aloe speciosa

Aloe speciosa

Aloe speciosa

A few close-ups of aloe flowers:

Aloe speciosa

Aloe wickensii

Dried up flower petals

A few photos of other parts of Taft Gardens:

Floss silk tree (Ceiba speciosa) next to the Pavilion House, which you can rent

Near the Amphitheater

We were puzzled by these shade sails. They don’t seem to protect anything in particular. Maybe part of an art installation?

Moon Gate in the Studio Garden

Check out the size of these jade plant trunks

Cactus Garden

Cactus Garden

Cactus Garden

Lily Grove Lawn

Grass trees (Xanthorrhoea sp.) in the Australian Garden

To help you find your bearings, here’s a map showing Ojai in relation to Santa Barbara, with Los Angeles at the bottom right:

Map data ©2026 Google

To visit Taft Gardens, go to their website and make a reservation for the time slot of your choice ($20 per person). You’ll receive an email with everything you need to know to find the gardens.

© Gerhard Bock, 2026. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.