Francisco Alvarado Park (Costa Rica)

In a strange sort of Mandela Effect, I thought there was a common name for shrubs that have been sculpted into shapes and figures. The proper term is “topiary”, but I thought there was a more colloquial saying, like “Garden Figure” or “Plant Sculpture” or “The Halifax Explosion of 1917”. Anyway, since the 1960s, Francisco Alvarado Park has dazzled visitors with creative and detailed figures cut from plants with dense foliage. The reader may need to be reminded that this was something of a political statement in the 60s, as it was becoming popular for people to grow their shrubs out. Demonstrating steadfast dedication, softspoken local eccentric Eduardo Manostijeras has tended these gardens for decades, and also owns and operates a local hair salon and dog groomer’s. From these media, he crafts dinosaurs, statues, and exotic animals (he stopped making pumas after the 1975 escape incident). There is a church next door to the topiary garden, and once the gardener crafted a plant into the likeness of Jesus. The gardener had a gambling problem and owed money to the church’s janitor, Jesus Cardenas, and used the gesture to buy some more time.