Plants: Gardens: Terrace Lagoon

Unless you have dined at the Flamingo Caf￩, snacked at the Lagoon Terrace, or met in the Rondavel meeting room, you may not even be aware of the lovely oriental garden surrounding the Terrace Lagoon. The entrance, like that of Fern Canyon's, is purposely inconspicuous, to keep the garden lagoon secluded and tranquil. Plant lovers, however, would do well to seek out the Terrace Lagoon's beautiful collection of bamboo, oriental pines, and flowering trees and shrubs.

There's almost always something blooming in the Terrace Lagoon. A Japanese maple Acer palmatum has leaves that turn a beautiful shade of auburn in the fall. A purple-blossomed lily magnolia Magnolia quinquepeta 'Nigra' graft has a longer blooming period than its common, white-blooming cousins; the tree usually blooms through spring and summer. A lavender trumpet tree Tabebuia impetiginosa is a late-winter bloomer that sometimes blooms again in late summer or early fall. And with its romantically drooping blue-green foliage, the Kashmir cypress Cupressus himalaica var. darjeelingensis lends a certain enchantment to the atmosphere of the Terrace Lagoon.