Holiday Garden Magic

FYI, the USDA released an
updated Plant
Hardiness Zone Map in 2012
using 30 years of meteorological data. 
See how your garden zone may have changed.

Then, there is The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday
Train Show that takes visiting a plant-filled museum of plants to an
entirely artful plateau that is transporting.

NYBG “owns” Christmas and the Holidays this time of
year. 

Can’t get in the spirit? 
Shopping leaving you not fulfilled? 
Ugly sweaters leaving you itchy??

Get to the Annual Holiday Train Show. 

Like one of the Russian nesting dolls, there is layer upon
layer of surprise and delight and sensual wonder – twinkling lights, colorful
plants, trains.  The Enid A. Haupt
Conservatory is transformed into a magical, fairy tale you can walk through.

We did this week. 
Mother, a favorite garden client, Maria, and friend Judy were mesmerized
yet again.  The Holiday Train Show brings
out the child in all of us.

The presentation is all made from plant parts – which
curiously, some visitors didn’t know even after visiting the show.  I know this because I was helping some young
women find their way back to Manhattan on the train a few weeks ago and we got
talking… I think that points to how incredible the designer Paul Busse and his
Applied Imagination team are. 

They create New York Landmarks with the plant parts,
including some of my favorites:
The Arch at Washington Square Park (near where
we live — in real life!)

The Brooklyn Bridge,

Rockefeller Center,

Grand Central,

and the
Garden’s own Conservatory. 

Here below is NYBG’s news about the show.  The photos are mine.  No words needed… The show is breathtaking,
leaving one rather speechless…

Central Park Bethesda Fountain

The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show®, a New
York City holiday tradition for visitors of all ages, opens for the season on
Saturday, November 15. In its 23rd annual exhibition, New York’s Favorite Train
Show presents an enchanted New York enlivened by model trains amid the glow of
twinkling lights in America’s premier Victorian-style glasshouse, the Enid A.
Haupt Conservatory. The cherished holiday experience at the Botanical Garden
continues through January 19, 2015, with a plethora of accompanying
programming, including children’s activities, poetry, classical music, cocktail
evenings, and more.

The Holiday Train Show showcases replicas of New York
landmarks, artistically crafted of natural materials such as bark, twigs,
stems, fruits, seeds, and pine cones by designer Paul Busse’s team at Applied
Imagination.
The original Pennsylvania Station and Yankee Stadium,

St. Patrick’s
Cathedral, Radio City Music Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge,

and Rockefeller Center

are among the favorites in the Botanical Garden’s collection of more than 150 Holiday
Train Show replicas. This year only, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of
the 1964 New York’s World Fair held in Queens, the Holiday Train Show features
replicas of the World’s Fair-famed Unisphere,

observatory towers, and the Tent
of Tomorrow at the New York State Pavilion, all from the Paul Busse Collection.

Over 20 large-scale model railway trains and trolleys—from
American steam engines and streetcars from the late 1800s to modern freight and
high-speed passenger trains—traverse nearly a quarter-mile of track across
rustic bridges, along overhead trestles, through tunnels, and past waterfalls
that cascade into flowing creeks. The trains in the Holiday Train Show are
G-gauge, sometimes measuring more than two feet long and weighing as
much as 10 pounds. Thomas the Tank EngineTM and other trains especially loved
by children also travel the tracks of the exhibition. The Artist’s Studio, which
will feature the World’s Fair replicas, also illustrates how the replicas are
constructed by displaying in-progress models of Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate,
will also be on display.

Seasonal Programming at the Holiday Train Show

The Garden brings visitors real trains, real landmarks, and
real fun with programming for all. This year, visitors can enjoy Evergreen
Express in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden; a poetry reading by former
U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins; classical concerts; and in January, a new
performance at All Aboard with Thomas & FriendsTM. The Garden’s popular Bar
Car Nights return on select Fridays and Saturdays in November, December, and
January.

Look at this detail of plant parts!

The experience continues in the Everett Children’s Adventure
Garden with Evergreen Express. Children can embark on a journey through a
variety of hands-on activity stations to explore cones, needles, and other
amazing evergreen plant parts and craft a miniature balsam fir sachet. Children
walk the trails of the Adventure Garden on a scavenger hunt in search of
beautiful evergreen trees and shrubs. Each weekend brings even more fun with
Holiday Train Parades and Ralph Lee’s Artist Station, where children can build
their own train puppet. The Everett Children’s Adventure Garden is open all day
for exploration. Guided Activities: Weekdays, 1:30–5:30 p.m.; Weekends and
Holiday Weeks (December 22–January 2), 10 a.m.–6:30 p.m.

The popular Bar Car Nights return with opportunities for grown-ups
to enjoy the evening while sipping a complimentary cocktail. Explore the
Conservatory after dark with a viewing of the Holiday Train Show before heading
outside for new seasonal fun throughout the Visitor Center. Dinner and
refreshments will be available for purchase in The Pine Tree Café. Fridays and
Saturdays, November 21 & 22; December 5, 6, 19, 20; January 2, 3, 9, 10;
7–10 p.m. Advance tickets are recommended at nybg.org. Non-Member $35/Member
$25 (Adults 21 and over)

HOLIDAY TRAIN SHOW HOURS:
During the Holiday Train Show, November 15, 2014–January 19, 2015, The New York
Botanical Garden is open Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Extended hours, 10
a.m.–7 p.m., Saturdays, November 15– January 17; Friday, November 28 (day after
Thanksgiving); and December 20–January 1. The Garden is closed all day on
November 27 (Thanksgiving) and December 25 (Christmas); it closes at 3 p.m. on
December 12 and 24 (Christmas Eve)

PRICING:
All-Garden Pass tickets start at $20 for adults and $8 for children (ages 2–12)
and differ during certain peak times. Members and children under 2 are free.
Advance timed tickets are strongly recommended and are available at nybg.org. Discounts
available for group of 15or more; contact Group Tours at 718.817.8687. For more
information, please visit our Web site at nybg.org or call 718.817.8700.