Folklore

The ground was dulled out from winter, a seasonal depression we can all share. Green leaflets from the tulips were surrounded by black barriers that laid against the freshly protruding leaves like little blankets. The doors led to a large circular room with high ceilings, the type of ceiling that would echo music in a mastered boomerang effect. Large arrows laid across the ground pointing towards the narrowed hallway with glassed walled windows on one side and folklore-inspired art hanging on the other. Faces carved into wood called out and the eyes listened as they gazed at each intricately detailed design on each individualized face. It would be strange if the face that stared at us was our own, but maybe people would be more willing to listen to the trees if there were faces like our own shame growling and emoting towards us while we walked amongst the trees.
The long hallway led to large doors and then a large sealed terrarium door. Weaved rope formed a spider’s web and tiny air plant spiders hung themselves around, held up by their silky threads. Putting googly eyes on anything you can think of shows that anything really is possible. Stairs led to the tranquility of plants, my quiet lovely little friends. The air was moist from misters that sprinkle little love letters on leaves and pamper every plant. At Lauritzen Gardens, the Gods and Goddesses are the plants and the paved path is the only place we shall place our footsteps, our footsteps secret to the grounds.
Brilliant pink Camellia, vibrant red petaled ground dweller dancing with small white, pinked and purpled friends. The grey path was hugged by various plants and woodchips that flocked to the edges as if they were following their famous idols. A large Dandy Lion stood amongst paper dandelions and greened crawling leaves with reddish-orange and yellow trumpeted flowers. His carved wooden body glowed and shadowed from the sun.
Along the path, we saw the mermaid-inspired pond underneath palm-like trees, their silvery shade of green giving the illusion of daydreams brought together with the fables and fairy tales written on boards. The water gleamed and shimmered as the sun hit across its bright blue and teal surface that danced in tiny currents and reflected the never-ending bottom. Tall planters stacked and spouted water from their UFO-shaped heads, otherworldly. Glassed dragonflies skipped across the water, leaping from the pond. shrubbery and narrow-leaved plants hugged the outer curves of the pond while a tiny elephant sat at one corner gawking below as it leaned its head to peer over the small cliffed edge.
A large banana plant stood nearby and hung several bananas from its roped neck. The banana’s burgundy flower gazed towards the ground. A wooden Rock Wallaby stood at the top of a rocked step mountain. Each step held terracotta potted plants, Orchids of purples, pinks, whites, maroons, peaches, yellows perched themselves and green trellised vines crawled along like cascading waves of water that gushed down the steps while a fiddle leaf fig hid behind spotted maroon and red leaves taunting the Rock Wallaby.
Banana leaves shaded the paths above like large fans waving in the sky. Creeping figs crawled along rocks while Calatheas and maroon and pinked plants laid within various greened plants hugging their surroundings. Palms reached their narrowed green leaves towards the glassed terrarium ceiling along with the silvery green fanned leaves of a friend. Green and yellowed Zebra Basket Vines hug the right side of the path along with green and yellowed striped leaved Cannaceae bulb plants. The bulb plants had red and orange blooms that swayed towards one side like a flowy dress.
The curved metal archway that laid over the path held thick slender leaved plants and ivyed green and purpled crawling vines. Bird-of-Paradise flowers sat on their leaves in vibrant orange with deep-blued beaks while a tiny pineapple sat nestled inside the narrowed leaves of its mother plant. Delicate peach petals and yellowed-lipped flowers lay near white-speckled green leaves. As we turned back towards the path we came from, the view looked prehistoric with the many large palms and banana plants in the dewy misted background.
Itzpapalote greeted us with his silk moth wings and skeletal body paper macheted among green ground dwellers and brown orchid mulch. Large birds made of weaved branches hung nearby with pale orange leaves that laid along metal bars above our heads.
The path led to cacti that were organically carved by nature, one possessing thick fur-like threaded needles and large potted pigeon berry with delicate purple and white weeping petals and green leaves. This room led to an endless case of stairs that curled rectangularly around and down and took us outside. Once outside, our path was chosen for us with bold arrows leading towards the last indoor exhibit and gift shop. A wooden plaque etched with the words “Enchanted Underworld” laid in the center of a large Boston Fern.
A large cave opening with dark greens and blues had various bright plants hanging along the edges and the top of the mossy cave. On the other side, a shagged yellow-eyed beast sat with its grassy green and brown fur near a carved wooden pinecone and jagged shaped green leaves. Monsteras barrier the tan bricked half-walls and grey paved path of the underworld. A large fairy house with several tiny brown, white, red, turquoise, and black windows sat in the center of the world with purple, pink, yellow, orange, coral, maroon, and white orchids and spiky green and white spider plants while paper umbrellas of white, yellow, greens, oranges, pinks, browns, and leaf-patterned of various shades floated above.
A large giant gnome stuck his head from the cement, his face the color of dried mud with sad, tired eyes, a curved hat, and a beard of silky clothes. Tinier fairy homes sat near the ground, nestled amongst coraled, purpled, yellowed, and white orchids and carved wooden pinecones and Boston Ferns while bluebirds glided within the foliage. Their branched windows are sheltered by scalloped fungi and their branched doors have tiny tan petaled flower lamps. One scalloped fungi roof sports a tiny nest filled with bright reddish-orange hummingbird eggs. A mossy cottage sits on a stump near the large community home along with a cottage made from small stones and pinecones and another made from a small hollow tree trunk hidden with moss.
The wood spirits live nearby in their coveted corner with brown branches kissed by snow and shaggy green pines that lay behind. Their sky filled with poofy bluish-grey and white clouds, one that cries snowflakes, one that sits nearby the moon whose face filled with crates smiles sympathetically, and the last with shards of glassy raindrops that lay beneath the happy sun with its thick bladed mane casting its forecast on the warmer side of the wood spirit home. A tall green shack sits decorated with pinecones, leaves, brown bean pods, and mosses with a stepping path made of wood slices. Their window box is filled with orange and yellowed flowers and their grounds are surrounded by yellow and pink flowers and small dark brown woodchips and their chimney is caked with moss. The shack has no doors but rather has various ivy and Boston Ferns protruding out and a large mothed metal insect of brown, orange and white sitting dauntingly in the darkened shadows.
Once through the last display, a tiny café sat on the other side. But atlas, we skip the quiet café and venture onwards towards the outside where we end the grand garden adventure at our car and resume the day’s plans. For those hours, it was as if time stood still. Nature is a full-body, full mind meditation and my mind was enveloped in a snug, warm blanket of space stuffed with various beautiful plants. And all I knew was this warmth, that is what nature is to me; it’s the serenity, it’s those silences that are filled with echoed chirps and songs, squeaks and rustling of trees, it’s the breeze as it kisses your face and tousles your hair, it’s the rain dancing and entangling in curly hair and dripping cold drops of happy tears, and it’s the sun as it shines warmth and radiates golden dews that glisten off your skin.

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Mail