A walk through Jesse Cabella’s playful garden could leave you feeling like you’ve stepped through the looking glass. Small figurines are hidden within the landscaping. Tillandsia air plants are attached to the branches of last year’s dried-out Christmas tree, and pink flamingos reside next to pagodas.

His Whitmore Village garden has been a labor of love for nearly four decades, and Cabella continues to add new features and plants that catch his fancy. He said he likes to keep the garden interesting for the hundreds of Hele­mano Elementary schoolchildren who pass by every day.

"Since we’re next to the school, parents and teachers ask if they can come in and take pictures," he said.

Cabella, 76, regularly spends time in his garden since retiring in 1993 from the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, where he worked as a pipe fitter and welder. He used his welding skills to construct a mailbox post that resembles a tree trunk and painted hummingbirds on the mailbox itself.

"I love to work with my hands," he said.

First, Cabella constructed the raised brick beds in the center of his yard. "I don’t know the names of all of the plants. Sometimes I just like the textures and colors," he said.

The graceful leaves of a Japa­nese maple tree flutter in the breeze behind the pagodas, which are the garden’s centerpiece. Pavers create a walkway that leads visitors through a rock garden and past a dwarf persimmon tree, lavender plants and bonsai trees pruned from bougainvillea alongside a bed of painted river rocks that mimic a running stream. At one time the garden had a fountain, but Cabella decided to remove it to make maintenance more manageable.

He said he finds inspiration by visiting other gardens and says that gardening is his form of artistic expression.

"When I was young I was always drawing pictures," he said. "I have a really good imagination."

He says now that everything is in place, upkeep — pruning, watering and harvesting — is manageable. "We normally water once or twice a week depending on the plants. During the winter months we don’t need to water the garden," he said.

An array of vegetables and fruit trees, including avocado, black cherry, lemon, Samoan guava and marung­gay, fill the backyard. Cabella is proud of his large sweet potato patch and mixture of strawberry, raspberry and blueberry plants.

"Filipinos like to eat the sweet potato shoots. We also have cha­yote (squash), mustard cabbage and New Zealand spinach," said Cabella’s son, Jason. The 46-year-old massage therapy student helps his father maintain the garden.

The younger Cabella recalled that the garden has been ever-changing since he was a child. For instance, a lawn was replaced with crushed rock, and a castle used to be where the pagodas now stand.

"When we were kids it was like an adventure land," he said. "As an adult it’s a tranquil space to unwind, just to sit down and relax."