The 'Garden of Eden' is in England?

Yet this architectural marvel is all but invisible once one is inside. Then it seems as though the visitor is in a lush rain forest. Tropical trees and green palms grow alongside banana groves, vines, spices, and pungent tropical flowers - all thriving in a steamy 95 degrees F. A waterfall feeds a stream that meanders through the jungle growth in this biome, which boasts plants from the islands of Oceania, Malaysia, West Africa, and South America.

Across a covered walkway lies the Warm Temperate Biome, with flora from the Mediterranean, South Africa, California, southwest Australia, and Chile. The eclectic collection includes citrus trees, grapevines, cork oaks, and olive trees mixed with fragrant roses, geraniums, and other flowers.

Outside, the surrounding gardens along the bottom of the crater represent a third biome, so to speak, where native English plants thrive alongside foreign flora that can weather Cornwall's climate. Apple trees, lavender, indigo, sunflowers, and tea all sprout in this outdoor landscape. Areas are sectioned off to represent habitats in Chile, the North American prairies, and Cornwall.

The Eden Project has plenty of appeal to green thumbs around the world, but what really makes it different is the mix of art, education, and its underlying "sustainability" message.

This sets the Eden Project apart from places like the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, near London, and other collections around the world.

Even the presentation is different. Eden isn't the typical garden-variety conservatory where exotic plants bear small plastic labels with long Latin names.

"We don't want to look like a cemetery," Travers explains. "It's not a tree museum, far from it ... and we're not about collecting rare plants, either" - although Eden does have some rare flora, including a "coco de mer" (a tropical palm from the Seychelles that grows from the world's biggest seed or nut, which may weigh more than 48 pounds), and endangered plants from the Atlantic island of St. Helena.

More than half of Eden's exhibit space depicts humanity's dependence on plants, often with a combination of thought-provoking exhibits, sculptures, and cloth signs with intriguing facts. "In terms of species per square meter, we probably have one of the worst collections in the world," Travers says, "but it's because we want to tell stories."

In the Humid Tropics Biome, for example, a grove of rubber trees rises from an area sectioned off by giant rubber tires decorated by quirky words associated with rubber. Nearby, a sign explains that centuries ago South American natives painted the plant's milky latex on their feet to make the first "rubber boots."

Different rice varieties sprout beneath giant rice-straw sculptures in an area that explains the Green Revolution, the crop-breeding program of the 1960s and 1970s.

In the Warm Temperate Biome, pig sculptures made of cork mingle among cork oak trees, with an explanation why the increasing use of plastic stoppers in wine bottles, instead of the traditional cork, may result in a loss of cork oak forests and habitat, as this woodland could be cut down in favor of other uses such as farming. (Cork comes from the bark and can be stripped off without harming the trees or forest.)

As part of the storytelling, Eden employees circulate among visitors to explain the science and nature behind the plants. Their hope: to get young and old hooked on horticulture.

"We're not preachy," Travers says. "Our position is not to have a position." But the Eden Project does try planting a subtle message - one of biodiversity, conservation, and hope - in the minds of its visitors.

"We intended to create something that not only encourages us to understand and celebrate the world we live in, but also inspires us to action," Smit wrote in Eden's guidebook. "Eden isn't so much a destination as a place in the heart. It is not just a marvelous piece of science-related architecture; it is also a statement of our passionate belief in an optimistic future for mankind."

As visitors wander among the cheery greenery, soaking up fragrant scents and kaleidoscopic colors, it's easy to see how such infectious optimism can spread like wildflowers in the garden of Eden.

• For more information:

The Eden Project, Bodelva, St. Austell, Cornwall, England PL24 2SG. Telephone: 011 44 1726 811900. Visit the website at www.edenproject.com.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Pentewan, St. Austell, Cornwall, England PL26 6EN. Telephone: 011 44 1726 845100. Website: www.heligan.com.

Page: 1 | 2