The U.S. Botanic Garden’s Season’s Greenings train exhibit is an annual tradition for my family, and this year’s “Pollination Station” theme is a fanciful and beautiful celebration of a process many of us don’t think about even though we all depend on it.
As always, the brightly-lit East Gallery has been transformed into an installation of decorations built from plant sources. This year, oversized flowers, birds, bees and bats are the stars of the show.
The scent of cedar fills the room and is sweetened by beeswax in hexagons outside the alcove that features delightful dioramas, miniature scenes of bees and their friends at home, at work, at school, and even among royalty.
This year, I was so busy planning to go out of town for an early Christmas with extended family that I didn’t even consider going to the exhibit before this week. I’m not sure how I missed hearing about this year’s theme or how amazing the colorful display was, but I don’t want anyone else to miss on this exhibit if they can manage to get there before it closes on January 3.
If your little ones are big enough, you might want to bring cameras for them. The kids in our crew were captivated enough to delight in capturing the scenes themselves.
The Conservatory is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lines begin to form (outside) before the building opens, and the exhibit can get crowded, so pack light (and with warm indoor temperatures in mind!) Entrance is free of charge.
For more information, see my photoblog of the exhibit and visit http://www.usbg.gov/.
A longer version of this post appears on the author’s website, Mindful Healthy Life.
Jessica Claire Haney is a Northern Virginia mom of two. She is founder, editor and publisher of Mindful Healthy Life, an online lifestyle magazine for natural-minded families in Metro DC. Her personal blog is CrunchyChewyMama.com.
