20,000 LED roses and tulips ‘grow’ in Bohol town

The Jardin Necitas Pilar Glowing Garden is now the choice of many couples for their pre-nuptial weddings since Jardin Necitas has been deliberately designed and “planted” to engage the emotions in a powerful way that evokes feelings of passion, love and intimacy. ｜ Courtesy: Budz and Bags

PILAR, Bohol- A soon-to-be-married couple are on their way to forever on Oct. 28.

But for Leomando Diño, 32, and Rosemary Buaya, 27, they decided to have a pre-nuptial pictorial in landmarks in Bohol that have their own beautiful charms that will illuminate their pre-wedding photo album.

They chose Jardin Necitas Pilar Glowing Garden in Pilar town as one of the iconic places as backdrops that can bring more life and different kinds of feelings to their pre-wedding pictures.

“It is very colorful, blooming, inspiring and romantic,” said Rosemary.

“The view and the flowers took my breath away. It’s more romantic if you’re holding hands with the love of your life,” said Leomando.

The couple who are police officers were dating for five years before getting hitched. They were the first couple to have their pre-nup pictorial taken at the glowing garden since its opening last Sept. 27 which the social media was abuzz over the weekend.

Located in a hilltop in Barangay Bagumbayan, Jardin Necitas Pilar Glowing Garden offers a scenic view of the mountain ranges of Ubay and Mabini towns and has a front yard that has thousands of plastic roses and tulips that light up at nightfall.

This place is adorned with 15,000 multi-colored tulips and 5,000 red and white roses made of plastic, with a steel bar to serve as a stem for the flowers to stand on.

At the entrance, visitors will enjoy taking “selfies” and “groupies” with 55 LED-light cherry blossoms and animals such as swans and flamingos.

The center has flowers arranged to shape like an “I”, heart and “U” to spell “I Love You.”

Police officers Leomando Diño and Rosemary Buaya have their prenuptial pictorial at Bohol’s newest attraction- the Jardin Necitas Pilar Glowing Garden, a garden filled with thousands of faux flowers that light up at nightfall to bring life to their pre-wedding photo album. ｜ Courtesy: Budz and Bags

Another visitor, Helen Alagadmo, was enjoying clicking her camera at the glowing garden. She said she would like to visit Dongdaenum Design Plaza in South Korea and the 10,000 White Roses & More in Cordova in Cebu.

But Helen said she changed her mind not to go to Korea and Cebu since roses have “grown” in the little island of Bohol.

Genellie Inting- Calipes, 34, brought her family and friends to see the glowing garden even it was 76 kms from the capital city of Tagbilaran.

Genellie like other visitors went to the garden at day time and waited until night time to see the flowers burst into a sea of brilliance against the dark night.

“The garden is beautiful. I was amazed to see the glowing flowers and it relieved my stress,” said Genellie, a Filipino teacher at Dr. Cecilio Putong National High School in the city.

Many visitors find the garden intrinsically romantic and offer pretty pictures in all directions. After all, Jardin Necitas has been deliberately designed and “planted” to engage the emotions in a powerful way that evokes feelings of passion, love and intimacy.

But who is Necitas?

Necitas, of course, is incumbent Pilar Mayor Necitas Cubrado.

Vanessa Cubrado ‘plants’ 20,000 LED-lighted flowers in Bohol, the first and only in the province. ｜Courtesy: Jardin Necitas Pilar Glowing Garden

Her daughter Vanessa brought the artificial roses and tulips to her hometown.

Vanessa, 32, said the artificial flowers are LED-lighted and are spread across a 2,000 square meter area at a hilltop lot in Purok 5, Barangay Bagumbayan.

The Jardin Necitas is open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Entrance fee is at P30 for adults and kids to help maintain and clean the surroundings.

Would-be couples who intend to have their pre-nuptial photos taken in the garden can do so for a fee of P1,000.

The entire project was completed within two months and an estimated P10 million was spent for its construction, Vanessa said.

Vanessa said it was not really planned. She just grabbed the proposal of her friend at MyLedOpto which is responsible for glowing gardens in the country.

She said most of their visitors are locals and tourists coming from Manila although there are various nationals in the garden.

“I didn’t expect it will be a huge hit in Bohol as the first and only glowing garden. I think I was really into tourism and boasting the tourism of Pilar especially the 3rd district (of Bohol). I was thinking it would be of big help,” Vanessa said.

The establishment which opened last Sept. 27 drew 5,000 visitors. From that day, many visitors frequent the place to have their pictures taken.

There is a small cafe which is offers food and refreshments to visitors who just want to relax while taking the scenic views.

Vanessa said her family plans to open a resort to accommodate visitors.

Visitors can take a bus or van (GT Express) at Dao Terminal in Tagbilaran City but make it sure to arrange a pick-up for your way back to the city. If you own a private vehicle, you can drive your way to the glowing garden for at least 2 hours.