The Enchanted Forest: Jack, The Ultimate Gardener

Jack and the magnificent, magical beanstalk.......
(Click pictures to enlarge)

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~ Albert Einstein

Sometimes you just cannot help wishing you were a child again and this is one of those enchanting places that brings the child out in each person who visits. At the Norfolk Botanical Gardens there is a quiet forest with an ambling walkway that lies just beyond the butterfly garden. This summer the garden has created a magical place of fun and delight for the children, with all manner of day camps and programs to educate and entertain kids. Groups, from various local builders to college students have designed and built eight playhouses based on famous children's poems and stories. These are placed in different areas of the Enchanted Forest all along the walkway.

Clockwise from upper left: Jacks garden.. Caution sign.... Jacks home...... the Giant's golden harp.

In addition to the playhouses, all of which are filled with interactive and touchable items, they have rustic meeting areas where the kids have camp and use natural twigs and stones and shells gathered from the forest floor to build little gnome houses. Gnomes hide behind trees and hold identification markers for trees and other plants in the forest as well. In a central clearing, the pines broken in last fall's Nor'Ida storm, have been cut and carved into chairs and large checkerboard tables with wooden checkers. What a fun place to explore!

Jack's colorful house.... do YOU believe in magic beans?

Jack's garden of pumpkins, squash, beans, tomatoes and flowers of all sorts was mixed with treasures he confiscated from the giant including the golden harp and a bright golden egg in a large hay nest. Inside were touchable succulent plants growing in a shallow shadowbox-like wooden structure that was hung on a back wall. Butterflies fluttered in and out, feasting on Jack's flowers and pollenating his bean plants.....

Funny though... I didn't see Jack anywhere. But after strolling through his house and gardens, I too believed in magical beans!

(end of post)

Ruby Tuesday Post ~ August 3rd