Virginia Hayes is Curator of the Living Collection at Ganna Walska Lotusland in Santa Barbara, California, where she is responsible for maintaining plant records for the extensive plant collections. Virginia holds a Master’s degree from University California Santa Barbara where she did research on the unique floral characters of lotuses (Nelumbo nucifera) and their variation among wild populations. She writes a popular gardening column for the Santa Barbara Independent and contributes to other California and national publications.