Holiday Train Show at NYBG

The annual Holiday Train show at the New York Botanical Garden is something I look forward to every year.  After a stunning walk through the conservatory (which I will post about separately), through the tropical rainforests and desert lands, I walked into the main exhibit room and into a whole other world. Before me were 140 New York City landmark buildings and structures, each constructed entirely of natural materials: nuts, tree bark, fruits, pine cones and leaves.

Model of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

Every now and then I would see one of the G-scale model trains going along part of the half mile track in and around one of these buildings or over one of it's bridges.

It's truly amazing that each of these buildings are built entirely of natural materials. The detail on the architecture is incredible, especially knowing it's created from dried plant parts. This is the famous statue on top of Grand Central Terminal train station in New York City:

And this is the Guggenheim Museum:

Here are some of the other structures, each one beautifully surrounded by orchids, cyclamen, kalanchoe, ferns, mosses and other plants:

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

Lyndhurst Castle

 

Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and more

And the new addition this year is the Trans World Airline (TWA) Flight Center at John F. Kennedy Airport. Complete with planes, runway and terminal building:

 

If you live in the area, you still have time to see the show. It runs through January 9th at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. For more information, you can check it out on their website. Also look for a link on that page which provides a "behind the scenes" glance at how they put it all together. It's fascinating and beautiful!

Trains, Gardens and Hostas

Last month I visited an open house for the Long Island Garden Railway Society in Huntington, NY. My mom's cousin, together with her husband, have created a beautiful oasis in their small yard with running water, a pond, over 50 varieties of Hostas and other beautiful landscape plants. But the main centerpiece is the working railroad track throughout the back yard.

My son and nephew (age 4 and 3, respectively) were fascinated with the trains and especially loved watching them go in and out of the tunnels!

Though the yard was small, I was impressed with the variety of plants and the combinations of color and texture. Their front yard is enclosed by a white fence and instead of planting the garden along the house, they planted it along the fence. In doing this, they made this front yard seem like a small room, inviting to the visitor to wander or admire the garden from either the yard or the house. 

Along the side of the house, they made great use of the natural slope of the lawn by putting in a water feature. Part babbling brook and part waterfall, it flowed down into a small fish pond at the base of the slope.

I think garden statues and structures can be attractive if done correctly. I love it when they are almost hidden among a plant or a shrub. As if they were put there by the garden gnomes and fairies themselves. Can you spot the little fairy sitting on the curb in the photo below?

And did I mention the 50 varieties of Hostas?? This one had leaves that were bigger than my daughter's whole body! This big one looks like Hosta 'Sum and Substance'.

 

To find out more information about the Long Island Garden Railway Society, check out their website at: http://www.ligrs.com/