The surreal folly gardens at Xilitla were created by Edward James, an eccentric British millionaire and patron of the arts. Set into 80 acres of jungle, he and his builders spent 25 years and millions of dollars creating a nature inspired fantasy in concrete.

Edward James began his life in the sheltered luxury of the English upper class. He attended Eton and Oxford, and later became a great supporter and collector of surrealist art, sponsoring both Dali and Magritte in the 1930s. His English home Monkton House is also a dedicated surrealist fantasy. His role as a patron of the arts put him in touch with luminaries of his times, including Dylan Thomas, Sigmund Freud, DH Lawrence, and Aldous Huxley. Huxley introduced him to Hollywood types, who in turn introduced him to spiritualist, surrealist, west coast visionaries, who then introduced him to the wilds of Mexico. A great lover of plants and animals, he was immediately attracted to he jungles of Mexico by the lush vegetation and the leisurely pace.

Construction on Las Pozas began in 1962, and carried on for the next 20 plus years until James' death in 1984. Las Pozas means "the pools" in Spanish, named for the 9 pools on the property created from waters that flow naturally through the property. The gardens feature more than thirty structures, ranging from plant sculptures to winding staircases to nowhere, and cathedral inspired screens - some ornately finished, others seemingly incomplete, although it is unclear if they were ever intended to be "finished". Most of the construction was done by Plutaco Gastelum, James' friend and co-designer, who was described in Smithsonian magazine as "part Yaqui indian, part Spanish aristocrat and a swashbuckling former rancher, boxer, telegrapher and amateur architect". Gastelum's home is now an eclectic hotel near to Las Pozas.

Following his death, the site was managed by the Gastelum family, and since 2007 has been renovated an maintained by the foundation Fondo Xilitia.

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