Straw Hats Visit the Indoor Children’s Garden at Longwood Gardens

The Straw Hat Society kicked off the 2008 gardening season with a visit to the new Indoor Children’s Garden at Longwood Gardens. It has been under construction for several years. During our previous visits, we could only peer longingly through the construction fences, trying to imagine what it was going to look like. Murals painted on the wall and written explanations whetted our appetites.

Today we were finally able to step into a garden filled with fountains and fantastic creatures. We entered through a bamboo forest . . .


. . . with a hidden room.


Also hidden among the trees were fountains filled with birds.




Each fountain sat on a unique mosaic.



We followed the walkway and were amazed to find a maze!


And more interesting fountains. This one is lit.


This one “runs” down the ramp.


Hmmm . . . what’s inside that tower?


A drooling dragon, of course!


Who also has a great view of these guys . . .


. . . who are part of this fountain:


The courtyard can also be viewed from the Rain Pavilion:


The view looks like this:


We followed our noses along the scented herbs . . .


. . . and found ourselves at yet another tower.


Then it was down the spiral staircase to the grotto whose ceiling was covered with shell mosaics giving us the feeling of being underwater.




The grotto isn’t uninhabited. Beware of the serpents . . .


. . . whose venomous fangs drip into a smoking cauldron:


It was difficult to leave this magical realm . . .


. . . but we knew that the orchids were in bloom, another reason we had come to Longwood Gardens.

Please visit Flickr to see all the pictures of the Children’s Garden, orchids and conservatory.