My morning ran a little longer than I thought, so when I pulled into the tucked-away, bamboo-lined drive at the edge of Old Metairie a full 45 minutes later than I’d planned, I started off on the wrong foot. Immediately, my brain started calculating how much time I could spend here, then get home and tackle a huge to-do list, and still make it to school for pick-up time. STRESS! Thus, my plan became: briskly walk through, get the general gist, then hightail it out of there. Real relaxing, right?!
So, I blazed a trail to the entrance of the Discovery Garden (the first listing on my handy little map), but came to a screeching halt at the bamboo tunnel. Wow. I don’t know if bamboo has some sort of magical effect or if it’s inextricably tied to Eastern spiritual practices in my brain somewhere, but the calming Zen-effect was almost immediate. One or two of my 3,000 clenched muscles seemed to actually relax. Interesting.
Through the tunnel, the first thing I saw was a giant sundial that tells the time based on where your shadow falls. And that set the tone for this whimsical, interactive garden. Where to next? The elaborate herb section, broken down into categories including culinary, medicinal, and even bug repellant? The giant watering can hovering over the Get Gardening Bed stocked with lots of dirt and an abundance of froggy spades for little hands? The Worm Dig with trowels-o-plenty for hunting down the little wigglers? The Recycled Garden and its playful, kitschy display of bathroom fixtures as planters (toilets are pure hilarity to all children, and most men, I think)? All are equally cool.
There’s also a box turtle habitat; a butterfly house filled with big, fat, Disney-esque, Technicolor caterpillars chowing down on leaves; a growing box that allows you to slide open a door to reveal the roots and all the action below ground; and an area stocked with rakes and log-filled wagons for designing your own garden. Whew! (There is also a small, well-placed bank of nice, clean restrooms. Score!)
And, holy smokes, do these folks have programs for kids and families. Of course, there are their ongoing Kinder Garden and Little Masters programs -- which mix art, nature, education, and even movement -- but there are also tons of special events and classes scheduled throughout the year.
But, the Discovery Garden is only the first stop. On goes the tour… In addition to the beautiful surroundings, there’s something very soothing about pea gravel crunching under foot. The further I walked, the more I unwound. My pace slowed as I made my way to the koi pond at the entrance to the Wild Garden. The only drawback: traffic noise from beyond the fence. (It’s no big deal to reroute traffic to accommodate me on my next visit, right?) Luckily a waterfall mutes the traffic sounds a bit on the three serpentine paths that cut through swaths of irises, camellias, and an array of other native flowers and trees – all painstakingly labeled. The Wildflower Walk is lousy with lilies and other fragrant blooms – an excellent reason to take deep, cleansing breaths. Talk about aromatherapy!
Beyond is the lovely Walled Garden (originally the family’s kitchen garden) with its circular patterns and a sugar kettle fountain at the center; The Canal Garden with (duh) a canal-shaped fountain; and The Goldfish Pond and Overlook with another waterfall feature. And finally, I reached the source of the loud, spattering water sounds that had been luring me closer throughout my stroll – The Spanish Court.
After ceremoniously passing beneath a grand loggia, I was delighted by this vista (it’s the one most associated with Longue Vue): a long, lush corridor leading up the house, with a great reflecting pool and majestic arching fountains down the center, and walks along each side that are framed by garden walls and evenly spaced, unique water features, sculptures, plantings, and inviting seating areas. The attention to detail here is remarkable. The walks are paved with a mix of French tiles and polished Mexican pebbles, laid out in rhythmic patterns. I really wanted someone to offer me a refreshing afternoon cocktail and some nibbly things at one of the tables, and maybe a good book, so I’d have an excuse to linger here a little longer. No such luck. But the mere thought unkinked my few remaining tweaked muscles and left me all loosey-goosey.
Closer to the house is a terraced garden, with a geometric boxwood border and some amazingly fragrant trees and bushes. Gardenias are my very favorites and these are actually grown to resemble topiaries! There’s also a yellow garden flanking the adjacent Whim House, inspired by the family’s visit to a monochromatic garden in England.
Unlike the grand houses of River Road, this World War II-era mansion is less of a historical relic, and more of a snapshot of the Stern family who once inhabited it – with most of the furniture and accessories original to the house. Sure, there are amazing intricacies and lavish décor, but more importantly, there are personal artifacts like books, art, a doll collection, irreverent caricatures of Mr. Stern, and signed pictures (with personalized notes for the hostess) from famous guests like Eleanor Roosevelt – all as they left it. This actually makes it far more interesting to me. And I loved learning from the guided tour that the lady of the house had to wait until her modern-art-hating husband bit the dust to create her seemingly out-of-place modern art gallery in the back of the house! I wondered if she financed it with the money she made emptying out his wine cellar and auctioning off its extensive contents!
Ah, with my tour of the house and gardens complete, I felt amazingly calmed and adequately distracted from the noise and tedium of everyday life. I took one last look at the "oak alley" in front of the house, then hopped in the car, turned on a little WWOZ jazz… and promptly had some stupid jerky woman pull out in front of me on Metairie Rd. Are you crazy, you #@$%*! Ugh, right back where I started. But, I had a new secret weapon. “Go back to the koi pond, Liz. BE the koi pond…”
Note: I later returned with my 5-year-old to test the facility’s appeal to the wild, short-attention-spanned set, and I was thrilled with the results. Not only was he all over the hands-on stuff in the Discovery Garden, but he was enthralled with the rest of the gardens, especially the water features. He even did well on the house tour, which only lasted about 20 minutes.
For more information, visit http://www.longuevue.com/
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