International Peace Gardens

Garden Highlights

• China

  The China garden’s Plum Pavillion is the most prominent display. Two large traditional lion guardian statues “protect” the entry. This garden once included plum trees, magnolia trees, peonies, begonias and citrus. These did weather over time, however, bamboo, pines, lotuses and water lilies still dot the Jordan River bank.

• Denmark

  Denmark’s garden once grew marguerite daisies, the floral emblem of the country and a popular reference in fairy tales written by Hans Christian Andersen. A replica of the author’s The Little Mermaid sculpture — one of Copenhagen’s biggest tourist attractions and symbols — overlooks the plot. The garden also features a pergola draped with bright orange trumpet vines.

• Greece

  Greece is another hard-to-miss garden. Grand Ionic columns greet visitors to its celebration of the beginning of democracy and the Olympics. Visitors can read about Greece’s most famous philosophers, statesmen, academics and athletes, including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Archimedes, Hippocrates and Spyridon Louis.

• India

  India’s plot once represented the lotus, the country’s national flower. The lotus — a symbol of spirituality, fruitfulness, wealth, knowledge and illumination — no longer thrives in this garden, however, the same ethos lives in its two sculptural representations: Preaching Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi.

• Switzerland

  It’s difficult to miss the eight-foot-tall Matterhorn replica staking claim in Switzerland’s garden. A mini Swiss chalet sits nearby the steel-and-cement mountain, as does a rustic bridge, rock gardens and a variety of shrubs, trees (including Mugho pines and quaking aspens), evergreens, plants and flowers.