LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden review

21353 The Botanical Garden represents a change of pace for LEGO Ideas and the second-largest piece count for the theme yet.

Coming in at 3,792 pieces, 21353 The Botanical Garden is a sizeable and eye-catching entry into the LEGO Ideas portfolio and one that stands a little apart from what we’ve come to know the theme for in recent years. In fact, it’s one of the more theme-adjacent sets that Ideas has produced, because here’s a model that could be just as at home in LEGO City or the Modular Buildings Collection. Beyond being based on an unlicensed concept, 21353 The Botanical Garden is unlike a lot of the other projects that the crowdsourced theme has produced in recent years.

That’s no bad thing, even if the piece count and equally-impressive minifigure count do place this as one of LEGO Ideas’ pricier offerings of late too.

Release: November 1, 2024 Price: £279.99 / $329.99 / €329.99 Pieces: 3,792 Minifigures: 12 LEGO: Order now

Out of Ideas… and into modular

Let’s start with where this set belongs in your collection and your consideration. 21353 The Botanical Garden is a LEGO Ideas set, but from the moment you start building it across those two side-by-side 32x32 baseplates, all the way up to finishing the model and finding somewhere to display it, it’s very much unlike any other Ideas set you may have built before.

Which is… yes… what can be said about most other LEGO Ideas sets and is perhaps the theme’s biggest strength, if not its entire raison d’être, except this set is unlike the rest because it's more like a City or Modular Buildings Collection model. Modular, mostly, for the higher level of detail and specificity given to the design, from the patterned floorplan inside the building to the architectural stylings worked into the archways, railings and so on, that help shape the curved glass roof.

It's not a knock against this set, but it makes the build process a lot more familiar than you may have expected, cast to a certain pre-existing style and format. As with assembling any set from the Modular Buildings Collection, 21353 Botanical Garden is put together in a comfortable, satisfying way, with building that is simultaneously nostalgic and unchallenging.

Again, this doesn’t result in a set that is bad in any way – there are some relatively smart effects used while the large scale of the overall building also plays a significant advantage, with the final model demanding a lot of real estate and using it in a quite aesthetically-pleasing way. But while taking the familiar build styles and approaches of something like the modulars ensures safe delivery of these aspects, it also makes 21353 The Botanical Garden a very predictable set.

That's predictable in how it looks like you would imagine upon hearing the words 'LEGO botanical garden'; in how it is eventually put together; and in how it looks and how all its features work once complete. And – almost all the sitcom sets aside – that doesn’t speak to what LEGO Ideas as a theme is capable of and often delivers.

Why does it matter? Because 21353 The Botanical Garden could have taken a familiar subject matter like the one it is based on, chosen to mirror the Modular Buildings Collection in so many ways and yet still included a more challenging technique or clever use of parts here or there, in a way that has made other familiar subjects so compelling to build under the LEGO Ideas moniker. Think 21335 Motorised Lighthouse, 21338 A-Frame Cabin, 21327 Typewriter, or 21318 Tree House as just a few of several examples that have done that sort of thing well.

Additionally, glance across at even the much more junior NINJAGO theme, and consider the complexity and unpredictability the designers throw into the NINJAGO City modular sets to see why those sets work so well when a larger budget and bigger piece count is matched by a more challenging build.

Some of the plantlife inside the glasshouse, as well as the exterior tree, do hint at that higher level of creativity possible here, but they are fewer and further between techniques that otherwise feel like they are on a second, third or fourth time around. LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden misses an opportunity to go a bit deeper into the build and design process that its contemporaries in this theme still manage. It’s a small observation but one worth being aware of – you’re getting a Modular Buildings Collection set here, more than you are getting an Ideas one.

Are we being harsh? To an extent. But consider how this comes in as one of the more expensive Ideas sets of recent years at £289.99 / $329.99 / €329.99, which is more expensive than a typical modular building, and talking purely at a LEGO build level it doesn’t do enough to impress against some very interesting Ideas sets that are currently available, nor (for the extra money) does it necessarily offer anything greater than any currently-available modular building.

Don’t throw stones

LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden may be relatively unremarkable in build design then, but it’s not so boring as to dismiss in any way. It ticks every box that it needs to and in a style that suits and delivers enough detail inside and out for anyone imagining what such a set would do. It may be simple to put together, but it's also pretty effective.

And as mentioned above, the size really does count in this set’s favour and is where it does impress and even begin to wow, thanks primarily to the large glass effect roof that allows so much light inside (just like real glasshouses of this size), as well as plenty of room for the trees and plants inside to grow into. This is where the set impresses just like any modular building does – everything is recognisable and functional as a real-world equivalent, with space to enjoy bigger plant builds and play out story opportunities.

There’s a large walkway inside the glasshouse for a number of minifigures to occupy, as well as a staircase leading up to a raised platform on the one side. Plantlife through the building is even given little signage in front of it just as we see in the likes of Kew Gardens, informing visitors of what exotic forms of nature they are viewing.

Aspects of activity and story are nicely worked into the model, while the juxtaposition of the symmetrical, colourless building housing such a randomised selection of trees and plants is where there’s real fun to be enjoyed in the set, and the best visuals are to be found – so much so that it’s a shame some of those are rather hidden within the set’s high walls on all sides. Access is only granted via the detachable roof or a couple of removable walls to each of the smaller side rooms.

The large piece count for 21353 The Botanical Garden does come at a cost, but it is the reason for what works best here too, in terms of the scale of the model and that a great deal of relevant and interesting story detail is worked into it. There are smatterings of activity in and around the centrepiece building and its variety of plants inside and out, and each detail pulls you back into the model as the strongest LEGO sets can.

The higher price may not offer a more advanced build, but it still brings with it a greater sense of all-round authenticity and interactivity – you can quite imagine the business of the gardening team as they water and tend to the large number of plants spread across the set, just as you can almost feel the humid conditions the visiting minifigures are treated to as they step inside the glasshouse.

Window dressing

The exterior to LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden offers a clever balance to the interior of the model. Where inside the plants are wild and varied, the outside plants are carefully planted in straight lines and pruned to uniformity by the team of gardeners included in the set.

There is still variety to be found within this more organised approach, thanks to the different types and colours of flowers that you put together – indeed there are perhaps as many different varieties as inside the glasshouse. The large tree to the left of the model is probably the most interesting and complex construction in the entire set, very cleverly creating a full, rich appearance with not as many pieces as you would expect. For its autumnal colouring (which does throw the season this set is based in into some question) the tree also offers a nice change to the all-white exterior of the glasshouse and green-dominated gardens that surround it.

Composition and window dressing elevate the final model a great deal, taking the original concept submitted on the Ideas platform by Valentina Bima and offering an authentic – albeit easy-to-build – large-scale glasshouse, packed with enough story, detail and aesthetic beauty to pull in and puzzle anyone who thought they’d already completed their large LEGO city, because you’re going to have to find space for this…

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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Our honest opinion: The price isn’t the best, nor is the build as complex as you may hope, but the Botanical Garden still carries enough interest and story across a sizeable model to justify its place in most people’s Ideas or modular collections. It's simple, but effective.