US Botanic Garden in December 2014 - Part I

We made our annual holiday trek down to the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC on the last Sunday of the year. Their holiday display includes models of Washington area monuments constructed of natural materials such as pine cone scales, willows branches, grape vine tendrils and acorn caps. The slide show below shows 6 of the models. Some things to note: the dome of the Jefferson Memorial Is some kind of guard with the stem still attached (1); the Smithsonian Castle is very ornate (2) so I included a close up of the right side to show the stick-bark-seed construction (3); the National Museum of the American Indian is made mostly of shelf fungus (4); and the US Botanic Garden glows from within (5); the capitol is one of the larger models (and it doesn’t have scaffolding around the dome as the real one does right now) (6); and the Supreme Court building (7) is very ornate so I included a close up of the columns that were just as ornate and more colorful than the actual building (8).

The other part of the holiday display involves model trains. The structures to the side of the tracks change every year. This year it was light houses. The winding path through the exhibit was packed with people that had stood in line for over an hour to get in - many with young children. But the wait was worth it. The child in front of us had a ‘Thomas’ lunch box and was very excited to see the trains. The older couple behind us had visited many of the lighthouses and were surprised at how many of the models they recognized. These models are built of natural materials like the monuments. A good time was had by all!

 

Posts from previous holiday displays:

• 2011
•  2013 (part I, part II, part III) 

US Botanic Garden - December 2013 - Part III

This is the last of the posts with images from our visit to the US Botanic Garden back in December. I could not forego posting about the poinsettias. The conservatory is full of them during the holiday display every year - in baskets, surrounding models of Washington DC landmarks and

Snuggled around miniature towns.

But my favorite part of poinsettias is the center of flowers….and that part is the focus of the slide show below.

US Botanic Garden - December 2013 - Part II

The orchid room at the US Botanic Garden Conservatory is one of my favorite places - not matter when we choose to visit. It is always lush with vegetation and a variety of orchids.

My favorites are always the slipper orchids - with a backdrop of green, dripping with moisture.

It is easy to imagine this form translated to a slipper for a human foot with a rounded toe and ribbons to tie around the ankle. It is not quite clear what would happen to the hood.

Or what about imagining the slipper orchid as a design for a backpack to carry a baby - the ribbons would be used to attach it to the mother’s back and the hood would be a sunshade! Some of the slipper orchids even seem to contain padding that would fit well into encouraging this imaginary translation.

The smells of the orchids all blend together in the orchid room to make a rich perfume - noticeable and pleasantly rich without becoming overpowering. I can’t share that with you but the slide show below gives you more visuals of the orchids found there last month.