The path leading from the first-floor back door of the Education Center to the Main Entry Plaza cuts through the Oriental Garden. Gardens are a human response to the beauty of nature. In China and Japan, the art of garden design reflects natural landscapes and ecosystems. Many of the traditional gardens of the Far East are naturalistic representation of lush forests dominated by tall pines, spruces and other conifers. Smaller deciduous trees like cherries, broadleaf evergreens, hollies, rhododendron, bamboo and a forest floor of ferns and mosses completes the plant community. This same kind of forest is found locally, preserved in ravines of Hocking Hills, Ohio, and the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. This garden, in oriental traditions, represents this type of evergreen forest with its refreshing sense of timeless place and beauty, featuring both oriental and North American plants. A small pond features a waterfall and koi (Japanese goldfish).