Garden of Dreams

"Adolphus Busch, renowned philanthropist, financier, family man, and beer baron. The Gardens were a fanciful way to amuse his grandchildren and please his beloved wife, Lilly. But Busch's Pasadena gardens were no ordinary pleasure grounds. Their extraordinary beauty and unparalleled plant collection ended up drawing thousands of visitors, among them the influential leaders of the day. The original Busch Gardens date from 1906 to 1937. They initially filled 30 acres, and later 38, with curving paths and colorful flowers. Busch spared no expense, paying, by some estimates as much as $2 million (remember this was early in the century) for imported plants, trees and grasses. He reconfigured nature to fit his vision of a fairy tale landscape, complete with fanciful bronze figures of gnomes, elves, and other characters from the mythological past.

An experimental documentary without the traditional narrator, the film uses actors portraying Adolphus and Lilly to tell the story. They voice their thoughts about the gardens, documenting feelings and emotions, which, research indicates, accurately expressed their attitudes toward the garden and each other. Theirs is a bittersweet nostalgia for a by-gone era, graced with the elements of an old-fashioned romance.

Our goal was not to document the historical events of the gardens, but rather to recreate the emotions Adolphus and Lilly experienced in creating them...." - John Huckert