One of the most popular collector series under the Danish LEGO toy company, "LEGO Ideas," launched set number 21353, "The Botanical Garden," this November! How many types of plants are cultivated within this incredibly beautiful building, which uses a large number of transparent parts to create a sense of transparency? And what kind of little Easter eggs are hidden among the minifigure lineup? Let's explore it together with our Toy People editorial team!
Since it's a LEGO Ideas series set that originated from an amateur fan submission and became an official product, we must certainly mention the original designer, Valentina Bima from Milan, Italy (active on the LEGO IDEAS platform as Goannas89). With an architectural background, Valentina combined her expertise with her passion for flowers and travel, bringing it all to life with LEGO bricks! Valentina also stated that whenever she arrives in a city or town with a botanical garden, she tries her best to visit it. This time, she chose glass and cast-iron greenhouses built between the mid-19th and first half of the 20th century as inspiration for her model.
For Valentina, the biggest challenge during the build was creating a light, transparent, yet sufficiently sturdy architectural structure. In her imagination, her greenhouse might stand in the center of a park, so all four sides of the building had to be designed to be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. At the same time, she also wanted to make the greenhouse compatible in scale for display alongside LEGO modular buildings, and her finished greenhouse greatly impressed both the LEGO community and the internal design team at LEGO.
▼ The Botanical Garden LEGO model created by Valentina Bima using Studio 2.0, comprising approximately 3000 parts.
This time, Chris McVeigh modified Valentina's original Botanical Garden creation and designed it into a commercial product. The overall structural changes are quite significant, with a reduced height but greatly expanded width, directly utilizing two 32 × 32 baseplates. Its footprint is quite extensive! It can also be displayed alongside LEGO modular buildings, making it visually stunning. Alright, let's quickly get to the main topic and take a look at the LEGO "21353 The Botanical Garden" we're about to play with!
▼ The front of the packaging box features all the contents of the Botanical Garden, including the building and minifigures, set against a dark gradient background transitioning from black to green.
▼ Turning it over reveals a view from the back of the Botanical Garden, easily detachable parts of the architectural structure, and a detailed overview of each section.
▼ Once assembled, the length reaches an impressive 51 centimeters!
▼ The top of the packaging shows all the minifigures, a total of 12.
▼ Next, let's unbox and see the contents! First up is a thick instruction manual.
▼ Once unfolded, you can see the complete appearance of the Botanical Garden.
▼ The introductory pages of this instruction manual are, as always, quite fascinating, including an introduction to the original designer Valentina Bima, her greenhouse model later built with physical parts, the historical evolution of glass and cast-iron greenhouses, a guided tour of this Botanical Garden, and the plants featured in this set, among other things.
▼ A detailed introduction to the plants housed in the collection, presented from a bird's-eye view.
▼ The Chinese translated version provided by the Taiwan LEGO Certified Store indicates that, in addition to the named plants, there are a total of 35 different species. Toy enthusiasts with an interest in botany might want to take a closer look and identify these plants.
▼ Next, for the parts, the total piece count comes to 3792. The numbered parts bags range from 1 to 29, plus four unnumbered bags of transparent parts and two 32 × 32 green baseplates.
▼ One sticker sheet.
▼ So, let's begin assembly! GO~~~
▼ Complete! But before we delve into the details of this Botanical Garden, as per tradition, let's first take a look at some small details that will be hidden or overlooked once assembled!
▼ When first constructing the baseplate, I suddenly realized it looked a lot like a cassette tape (laughs).
▼ The hoses are represented by flexible parts; this design feels like it would also be incredibly versatile in mech-type MOCs.
▼ The internal building process essentially involves laying the floor first, then constructing the flowerbeds and walls brick by brick, and finally placing the plants in sequence, which is incredibly therapeutic.
▼ We previously encountered a technique for building small Persian buttercup flowers using minifigure shoulder pad parts when playing with the "10314 Dried Flower Centrepiece," and it reappears in this Botanical Garden! This time, three red shoulder pad parts are combined with 1x1 round plates to create the Rafflesia.
▼ In the bottom right position of the image, the mushroom with a red cap is made by using a white carrot part upside down, which is super interesting.
▼ Does this yellow "trumpet flower" Datura flower part look familiar!? When we previously played with the "31212 The Milky Way Galaxy," that model used just one flower part to represent the entire solar system!
▼ The spiral staircase, built in a very interesting and admirable way, and the frog behind it can only be spotted by looking through the glass from the back of the building once assembled; it's easily missed if you don't build it yourself.
▼ The coffee machine, reception counter, and audio guide headphones (from left to right) are all small sub-assemblies that will be partially obscured once built.
▼ This set extensively uses columns and arches built in this manner to showcase the characteristic style of Victorian architecture.
▼ The elevated viewing platform, essentially a 1.5-story mezzanine in the high-ceilinged space, is a part I particularly enjoyed this time. Although the space isn't large, placing minifigures there instantly creates a super exciting moment.
Now, let's take a look at the "Botanical Garden" from various angles!
▼ Viewing it at a slight angle allows one to better appreciate the architectural charm created by the neat stacking of numerous glass windows and arches.
▼ In addition to the beautiful glass conservatory filled with plants, the exterior garden is also quite spectacular! To the right of the Botanical Garden, there's a miniature fountain with a yellow oriole perched on top.
▼ To the left of the Botanical Garden is a reddish-brown Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum).
▼ The Japanese Maple, with its tree shape built up layer by layer using light brown branches and reddish-brown leaves, is truly beautiful.
▼ Look closely, and you can even spot a beetle hidden within.
▼ The exterior garden extensively uses newly developed double-layered peony rose parts, including pink, orange, lavender purple, green, and more.
▼ The ice cream tulips are also incredibly beautiful!
▼ A small sparrow with brown feathers is perched on the upper left corner of the main entrance.
▼ Beautiful handrail lines are outlined using white vine parts.
▼ Once inside the hall, head to the counter to pick up an audio guide!
▼ On the bulletin board behind the reception counter, you can see Valentina's original design sketch for the Botanical Garden, which is super cute and surely a delightful Easter egg for creators.
▼ In the image below, the left is a flamingo, and the right is Arabica coffee; coincidentally, I recently learned that the bright red coffee fruit is also known as a coffee cherry due to its cherry-like appearance.
▼ The enormous eucalyptus tree.
▼ Lifting the eucalyptus tree reveals the bird-of-paradise, wood mandrake, and rafflesia clearly.
▼ The botanical garden's largest eucalyptus and phoenix date palm trees feature an easily removable design, with no stud connections yet achieving sufficient stability in a 2x2 space. The thoughtful use of color to distinguish their placement is a nice touch; this building technique also brings to mind the bamboo in "10315 Tranquil Garden".
▼ The beautiful and romantic viewing platform.
▼ After exploring the central area, let's head over to the cafe!
▼ The easily detachable wall design allows for full enjoyment of the cafe's interior details.
▼ Place the minifigures inside to recreate the ordering process!
▼ After ordering, you can head to the elegant courtyard seating area to await your delicious coffee and desserts.
▼ An overhead view of the workbench area.
▼ Next, we move to the opposite side of the cafe: the exclusive garden area for drought-resistant plants: the Arid Garden.
▼ The Arid Garden showcases the vitality of drought-resistant plants, blooming even in harsh, water-scarce environments, and features a variety of cacti.
▼ Outside the Arid Garden is the staff-only cleaning and tidying supplies storage area, but today we're greeted by a little squirrel guest.
▼ The large and two small roof sections are constructed with numerous transparent parts, creating the sense of openness envisioned by Valentina. However, if you wish to play with the interior, it's no problem at all, as they can be easily removed.
▼ While the two small roof sections on the left and right are essentially identical in shape, the one above the Arid Garden features lighting and a bird's nest.
▼ Next, let's look at the lineup of 12 minifigures. The first six are visitors to the botanical garden. On the far left and second from left are a mother and son; the mischievous little boy picks a flower for his mom, startling her! There's also an elder who enjoys strolling through the garden, and a little girl wearing a guided tour headset (second from right).
▼ Next, the minifigure on the far left in the image below is another guest. According to the official setting, although he cannot visually enjoy the flowers, he can experience the charm of the botanical garden through sound and smell. Then, second from left is the barista from the botanical garden cafe, followed by the minifigure representing the original designer Valentina, the minifigure representing the official lead designer of this 21353 Botanical Garden set, Chris McVeigh, and two of the garden's horticultural staff.
▼ After the minifigures, don't miss the small animals! This set includes a squirrel, a white rabbit, a dog, a sparrow, a Northern cardinal, and a golden oriole – a truly rich assortment!
▼ Here's a look at the printed elements in this set – two brand new botanical information plaques and a small round tile printed with a four-leaf clover.
LEGO 21353 "The Botanical Garden" Unboxing Summary:
As mentioned in the instruction manual, "Whether we live in the city or the suburbs, the importance of green environments and their impact on our well-being are deeply ingrained in human DNA. Our need for nature instinctively drives us to seek out these flowers and plants." Honestly, as an editor over thirty, I can truly relate. Besides starting to observe plants on the street and cultivating a plant growing area on my balcony, I also tend to gravitate towards nature when traveling. Just as nature can heal the soul, this "21353 Botanical Garden" set will surely satisfy many toy enthusiasts' pursuit of greenery in their lives.
Throughout the building and play experience, the entire process is excellent. The architectural style and color palette exude a very light and airy atmosphere. Coupled with what is arguably one of the largest transparent roofs in a LEGO product, this LEGO botanical garden closely resembles a real one, allowing for a sense of calm and immersion. With a total of 35 different types of plants, a diverse minifigure lineup, and adorable animals, it becomes more captivating the more you play with it. For this editor, the only reason a toy enthusiast might hesitate to acquire this botanical garden is probably its "space-killer" attribute, being 51 centimeters long.
LEGO 21353 "The Botanical Garden"
Suggested Retail Price: NT$ 10,399, Total Parts: 3792 pieces, Currently Available
