Juniper
One of the most beautiful gardens I have visited was Vancouver Island’s Butchart Gardens which is 22ha (55 acres) in size. There was so much colour all over this spectacular garden. Although I don’t have “green fingers” nor an immaculate garden of my own, I do enjoy a stroll through a garden as it’s relaxing. Over the weekend, I paid a visit to 1Utama’s Secret Garden which is located on the Upper Roof of the New Wing (accessible by lift, just ask the concierge if you are unsure which one to take) and 30.000 sq ft. in size. The location is so secret that I had to ask for directions at the concierge after going up several escalators that only led me to car parks.
500 species of flora are grown at the Secret Garden 35 acres above the ground. I explored the garden on a blazing hot weekend morning, there was no one else around other than the staff. The majority of the plants have tags with their names and some are from exotic countries. However, there was not one juniper tree in sight!
There was even a mini waterfall which gave a bit of coolness to the garden. If you feel like sitting down, there is a shady area with some wooden seats. Some of the blooms were withered but given the heat, I wasn’t surprised. It’s a nice place to stroll around if you want to get away from the retail scene for while. It’s probably much cooler in the evening but given the heat the past few weeks, few people would want to be outdoors.
The Secret Garden is a respite from the crowds in the mall below. I can’t think of any other mall in the Klang Valley with a similar garden. I’ll be paying another visit if I happen to be at 1Utama on a weekend.
The Secret Garden is only open (free admission) on weekends from 10am-7pm.
