WELLBORN, Fla. — Everywhere Judee Mundy looked Saturday, she got a glimpse of just what she was hoping for.

A group of people gathered in one area of Hearthstone Gardens, a 35-acre botanical gardens that was hosting its grand opening, focused on a plant.

Or a person lost in concentration in another area of the gardens, oblivious to the crowd around them.

“Every time I looked up I would see small little pockets of people, little clusters, and they were all terribly focused on one plant or one area to the exclusion of anybody else,” Mundy said. “It gave that sense of what these gardens are, that you go out as a solitary group or person and you are just by yourself and sort of inhale and absorb.

“That’s how it was.”

And that’s what Mundy hopes Hearthstone Gardens, located at 3300 134th Place in Wellborn, will continue to be. Now open, the gardens will be open daily from dawn to dusk, which Mundy said is to allow for birding opportunities. There is no admission price.

“It just all resonated with that peaceful, beautiful area,” Mundy said.

And that’s what Mundy has always wanted to provide. She has called it a lifelong dream to offer a relaxing area with both sanctuary and gardening components.

After moving to North Florida 13 years ago, Mundy said the realization came three years ago that it was time to make the dream become a reality.

That’s when the hard part began.

The beautifully manicured gardens that enticed visitors from across the region Saturday, which includes a butterfly mound near the entrance as well a children’s garden, bird sanctuary, rose garden, midway tropical garden and Mirror Lake, looked nothing like that then.

It was overgrown, full of weeds and berry bushes.

“We started mowing at the butterfly mound,” Mundy recalled. “We started there because we really didn’t know where else to start. And from there it just morphed.

“We did know the overarching idea or sketch was we wanted everything to be in curves. Nothing to be straight lines. Curves are not only peaceful, but curves, you can’t see around the corner. There’s a psychology of what’s next and you get people involved and wanting to come and wanting to see more just because of how you set up the structure.”

In addition to those curves, Mundy has more plans for Hearthstone Gardens to help lure visitors back and promises there will be more to see.

Next on the list will be a Japanese garden near the back of the gardens. Mundy said a sundial garden is planned for an open area near Mirror Lake as well. There will be more trails constructed in the wooded area that runs alongside the gardens.

She said some of the visitors at Saturday’s grand opening are wanting to help with the additions as well, from a couple wanting to build and place a picnic table on the grounds to a gentleman wanting to move some of his smaller trees to the open field across from the gardens.

“The people that came seemed to really sincerely enjoy themselves,” Mundy said, adding there will be classes and programs offered at Hearthstone Gardens (during the grand opening, there was a live bee presentation as well as animal programs from Kitty Tolson Carroll and Jerry Walls).

“It was time to open. People can enjoy it and also see us grow.”