The tyranny of the sun is only so without shade; on a hot Omaha day, wood chip paths wound under well-maintained tree-cover. Almost out of sight, birds somersaulted in tandem in their ever-dance under and above the outstretched branches holding back the heat – and if the harshness of the day still attempted to join the earth, it had to pass the awning of leaves where it was then filtered into pleasant sunbeams.

As the path broke from its cover and the sun once more ruled with impunity, rows of rainbows grew from the ground, tended to with love; the flowers would take all the sun had to give them and even bloom in spite of it.

There, aside grace given color, my mind drifted back to the interview I just left.

Across the oaken table, broad windows were framed by flowers and thick green plants, and just beyond the foliage, the giggles and sudden, but playful shouts of children bounced back and forth as if they could play catch with their voices. The new, “Sofia’s Play Garden” was as bright as the sound of small pattering feet between areas of vegetation and a multiheight playground.

I had not realized I was sitting in the dark of that small library, trying to frame this story in my mind, until the door opened and the man I had been waiting to interview turned on the light.

“You don't have to sit in the dark!” Ennis Anderson said jovially, greeting me with a smile as he moved to sit between the table and the window; he fit his fancy suit well.

“Ah!” I began, stumbling over my words, explaining, “Oh, I had eye surgery a while back, so I don’t always recognize the levels of light—” before I finished explaining, CEO Ennis moved back to the switch right away to turn off the light. There was no hesitation in his movement: even having just met me, fancy suit and fancy title, he had my comfort at the forefront in his actions.

With a backdrop of the brand-new Sofia’s Play Garden, the hunt for the soul of Lauritzen Garden began with its Chief Executive Officer and his vision.

I plied open my little black book and readied my sometimes silly, and often open-ended questions to draw out as much information as possible,

“If money or position weren’t an obstacle, and you could be anyone or do anything, like say, the President of the United States, would you still be in your role?”

The smile that overtook Ennis was something that struck me as grateful,

“I would still be doing this: I love getting kids off phones. Kids are our future.” He spoke of his path to his current position, how he had managed hotels for fifteen years at fourteen hours a day. There was always a desire to be able to take care of his family, but he had sought to make nature a larger part of his life. After hotels, he moved to a new position as President of Operations and Guest Services of the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and Research Center, and then, when opportunity appeared, he took the position at the Lauritzen Gardens thirteen months ago.

Omaha gave him exactly what he was looking for: to be in charge of a growing garden, in a growing city. He had come to heartily appreciate the people of our city and, in his words, “how honest people are here.”

Motioning with the top of my pen,

“And the best thing about your job?”

Like a bird rising with the wind, Ennis tilted his head warmly,

“Being able to share the beauty of the Gardens with others, to show a city kid you can get vanilla from an orchid. (And) It's important for me to walk-the-talk, to make the Gardens a space for all and be intentionally inclusive.” Then, with more passion, he spoke on, “We have reimbursed bussing for schools, given out over 4,000 family passes, started ‘Gardens for All, ' which gives free accessibility to those with SNAP, and we partnered with Blue Star.”

Blue Star Museums is a nationwide program that offers free admission to active-duty military personnel from Armed Forces Day through Labor Day. The Gardens also had partnered with Omaha Public Libraries, “Museums for All,” an initiative to remove barriers to entry.

Ennis then lauded the city and its people,

“The philanthropic support of Omaha has been amazing.”

Nodding along, I scribbled down his kind words in my notebook,

“And what do you want to do next with the Gardens?”

What he had already done was clear through the window behind him, with the laughter of children and the new play garden, as well as his guidance of community programs. Ennis paused, carefully drawing together his ideas,

“I want to build things that come from the voice of the community, so they feel it's a place for them. Did you know Nebraska has more species of orchids than Hawaii? It’s our charge to protect our native plants.” Further discussion brought out that making a garden with all five of Nebraska’s prairie ecosystems was something he had been thinking about, as well as developing the Gardens to, “draw people off the path – off the tram.”

As with moving quickly to turn off the light at the beginning of the interview when I mentioned I had eye surgery, Ennis’s empathy-in-action could be seen again when he spoke about when he arrived in Omaha and wanted to make it a space for everybody; to help children who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend. One of the things he did early during his role as CEO was ask around at the Gardens, wondering what sort of relationship they had with Bancroft Elementary, just up the street, and pushed for it to be more.

If one looked at Bancroft Elementary’s number of free or reduced school lunches, they would see that it has the highest number in OPS – thus the students come from the economically poorest strata – and just down the road is the beautiful Lauritzen Gardens. Ennis spoke with the principal of the school, who told him that, of the students asked, only five out of every 75 children had ever been downtown, even though they can see it from their end of 13th street.

Under his tenure, the connections between the gardens and Bancroft deepened in regard to the frequency of field trips and curriculum engagement.

Throughout the interview, I learned that Lauritzen Gardens plans to open up a garden downtown, which will be free to the public and will be designed by world-renowned designer Piet Oudolf.

“I'm going to bring world-class architecture to a world-class garden.”

Ennis spoke with his firm passion about plans for plants in that small library, and across the broad wooden table, he framed his focus first with three words:

“Conservation, education, horticulture. Let us be that space and place.”

My mind shifted back away from the interview as the sun gave of itself to the multi-colored flower garden before me. Bees circled busily above petals, and butterflies made chase with each other around stalks. And while children led their parents forward around a new corner, I reflected on the focus the CEO, Ennis Anderson, had for bringing children to the Garden.

Always looking to make others laugh, I recalled then a quote which would likely make children giggle (for you to share!):

“I thought I was pretty cool until I realized plants can eat the sun and poop out air.” -Jim Bugg

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com