EL JARDÍN ESCULTÓRICO DE EDWARD JAMES

Hidden in a jungle in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, The Sculpture Garden at “Las Pozas” is a spectacular vision steeped in history and legends. Edward James, poet, artist, disturbed and tortured man throughout his life, strived to find a way to heal his own mental health. He eventually built fantasy gardens from his imagination on a former coffee plantation he purchased as a sanctuary. It was there he could retreat from the real world to heal from his early traumas.

Meet some of the people who knew Edward well ... including Miguel Reséndiz, garden expert and guide who tells host Charlie Dobbin about his lifetime working in the garden. And we learn about the colony of Edward’s famous friends that included Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, and Igor Stravinsky, just to name a few... With its doors that open to nothing, stairs that lead to nowhere, and concrete flowers that grow along with natural ones – this garden needs to be seen to be believed.

RANCHO LA PAZ

Rancho La Paz is an alluring visual treat and a one-of-a-kind natural sanctuary. For over two decades, it has been promoting regenerative agriculture and ecosystem health, while cultivating plants and flowers to turn into medicine. It promotes complementary medicine based on ecologically healthy habitats, biologically-grown foods and gentle healing methods.

We meet the owner and creator of this special garden, Dr. Dieter Le Noir, a general practitioner born in Mexico City who studied Integrative Medicine in the United States, India, Germany, and Switzerland. Dr. Le Noir has dedicated himself to the treatment of diseases through contact with nature. We listen in while Dieter takes host Charlie Dobbin on a nature walk around the magnificent property, as he shows her some of the specific medicinal plants and flowers they are carefully growing and nurturing to turn into remedies.

KINGSBRAE GARDEN

St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, Canada Kingsbrae Garden is sensational, with elements of surprise at every turn. Situated on the Bay of Fundy in St. Andrews by-the-Sea – a national historic site in Canada – the property boasts over 50,000 perennials, ponds, streams, an old-growth Acadian forest, along with various animals and birds.

We meet garden founder Lucinda Flemer who, with her late husband John, “wanted to protect the property from nasty builders putting up hideous little townhouses”. Host Charlie Dobbin meets up with two CNIB members who have lost partial or all vision, who tell us about how their experiences in the garden have significantly improved their lives. We also meet Managing Director Brad Henderson, Artistic Director Geoff Slater, and Executive Chef Alex Haun who takes Charlie on a foraging walk in the Chef’s Garden to collect ingredients.

NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN

Aptly called the "Garden Island," Kauai, Hawaii is a paradise draped in emerald valleys, sharp mountain spires and jagged cliffs aged by time and the elements. Thousands of species from throughout the tropical world have been gathered to form a living collection that is unparalleled anywhere. These gardens and preserves are living laboratories and classrooms. The NTBG’s staff of highly trained scientists, researchers, biologists, and botanists are dedicated to discovering, saving, and studying the world’s rarest tropical plants, including those facing extinction.

We visited three special gardens on the island of Kauai. Allerton Garden, with its towering rainforest trees, is a masterpiece transformed through time. It has a rich history as a Hollywood film location for many notable movie blockbusters like Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean. Limahuli Garden is built on the footprint of its Hawaiian ancestors and is one of the most biodiverse valleys in the Hawaiian Islands while being home to dozens of endangered plants and birds. McBryde is a veritable botanical ark of tropical flora and home to the largest collection of native Hawaiian flora in existence. Host Charlie Dobbin meets with Directors in each of these gardens to hear their personal stories about the healing impact the gardens have made on their own lives.

MARIMURTRA BOTANICAL GARDEN

Blanes, Girona, Spain The Marimurtra Botanical Garden – situated on top of the first cove of the Costa Brava – is a privileged place to enjoy rich botanical architectural landscaping in a paradise of the plant kingdom. Its geographical context and close proximity to the Mediterranean Sea accounts for breathtaking scenery that makes Marimurtra one of the most interesting botanical gardens in Europe.

The beauty of the plants and the splendid views make it easy to understand why so many visitors have met, fallen in love and married in these gardens ... and continue to come back and visit year after year, some bringing their growing families along to experience the couple’s original love connection. Host Charlie Dobbin introduces us to some of the couples for whom this special garden has featured prominently in their own personal stories. We meet the current Foundation Director as well as the Master Gardener and some of the science researchers who are motivated by their love of this particular garden and its natural wonders.