I adore botanic gardens and conservatories, and my very favorite time to visit is in the winter. There is nothing like stepping out of a cold, snowy day into a tropical paradise under glass. And while I’m not a big holiday person a lot of the time, I also love the plant-centric holiday displays many botanic gardens and conservatories put together this time of the year. Today I’m sharing some shots from the holiday display at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
Late November in Washington, D.C., isn’t too cold, but the gardens outside are looking wintery and brown. Time to hurry inside and get a big dose of green, warm plants.
Inside, the tall tropical plantings surround—of course—masses of poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima). This winter-flowering shrub from Mexico has become synonymous with the holiday season thanks to aggressive marketing campaigns and some horticultural breakthroughs in the 1960s and ’70s. Want to learn more about these classic holiday plants? Check out this article, and if you are worried because you’ve heard they are toxic, there is good news for you here.
My favorite part of the display was the replicas of D.C. landmarks made entirely out of natural plant materials.
I particularly loved this model of the Library of Congress. It is a beautiful building, and this detailed model is absolutely incredible!
A close-up of the Library of Congress model showing that all the details are crafted from natural plant materials—twigs, pinecones, acorn caps.
Does your local botanic garden put on a great holiday display? Or do you have a favorite plant-centric way to ring in the holiday season? Send us some pictures! We’d love to share them with the other GPODers!
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Comments
Yowza on those incredible replicas of the DC landmarks...what a treat it had to be to see them in person.. Do you know if this was the first year they were presented? They are so amazing...seems like they should be stored away and used again and again. Love the vibrant vertical exclamation points that the red twig dogwood stems add to the display of poinsettias...all are very festive.
The Denver Botanic Gardens has a very nice conservatory but I would much rather be outdoors. There is so much to see in winter when most of the garden is taking it's winter nap. I notice things that usually go unnoticed when I'm there the rest of the year.
omg! they need to put a plaque with the artists' names on that model! i'm so appreciative that you enabled the viewer to 'grok' its reality; i, for one, never would have guessed it w/o the closeups.
i hope you take the opportunity to visit bunny williams' gardens in NW CT. on one of her Garden Conservancy Open Days; she has the most astounding 'pool house'; a monumental wooden Parthenon made of trees and bark!!
mindy
Those natural models are unbelievable - the skills needed to accomplish them are prodigious! Thanks for sharing the photos!
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