jardin GAUDOM (A Mini Forest)

Jardin GAUDOM
(A Mini Forest)

Jardin Gaudom (a mini forest) is a crude garden occupying an area of about 2,000 square meters. It has around 50 species of plants planted without following any orderly pattern. Its pathway is crooked and uneven, purposely made that way to avoid walking under coconut trees, thus keeping the walker safe from falling coconut palms and fruits.

At one corner, under a huge Narra plant is a manmade Wishing Well (actually a concrete basin) surrounded by various ornamentals, orchids and vines entirely different from any wishing well one have seen somewhere else. There is an area for Floral Concoction opposite the portion of Herbal Plants. Near the unusual Rock Garden is a screened Bahay-Kubo also called the Hut for Amicable Settlement. Just opposite is the family’s Extension Guest Room where those who want to stay overnight could be accommodated.

Slogans and quotations are everywhere; one will feel as if the trees are talking to him.

Walking a bit further one will encounter the Friendship area intended for camaraderie. Adjacent to it is the Rosary Corner curtained by used cards of all kinds. Beside it is the Meditation site where one could just sit, relax and with eyes closed listen to the voice of God through the amazing sound of nature.

More interesting is the Scream out Area for the emotionally polluted heart. There one could let go all negative vibrations, while allowing all impurities, emotional, psychological and spiritual to flow with the water beyond coconut, bamboo and kabo negro plants to be purified and diluted in the vast ocean of goodness.

Nearby is a small circular Grave site, surrounded by stones, where the garden’s owner wish, his ashes when he dies, shall be scattered around a Cypress plant. That way his physical part shall always be a part of his garden while his soul goes to the garden of God.

A few more steps bring one to the Counseling Corner, supposedly the most pleasant space in the garden. It is shaded by bamboos, where young boys and girls come for advice as well as their parents and teachers at times. It is used for socialization and drinking sessions too. A parking area is conveniently available.

Eye-catching and conspicuously located is the Terrace of Merriment that could accommodate 30 persons casually. There is also a Balcony of Reconciliation for quarreling lovers to patch up their misunderstanding under the shade of a Bignay tree. Below the Balcony is the interesting portion for those who enjoy and are at home with street and neighborhood noises.

Strolling through the maze of Jardin Gaudom gives one a quick experience in 'ecozoic' living, a peaceful, happy and symbiotic existence with nature. It takes only five hundred steps to make a complete round of this unique garden.

Gaudom is coined from the names Gaudencio and Dominga, the couple, my parents, who originally owned the ancestral home where the backyard is converted into a somehow weird and unconventional place to experience during this age of modernity and sophistication.

In this era of computers and cell phones, of global blunders and political stupidities, of terrorism and criminalities, a visit to Jardin Gaudom is a refreshing experience.