When thinking of things to do in DC at Christmas, there's several that tops the list. Ice skating on the mall, the big lit Christmas trees at the White House and Capitol, theater performances...the list goes on. One place that doesn't immediately make that list, but totally should, is the National Botanical Gardens.
My friend and I were in search of refuge from the rain on Saturday when we happened upon the gardens. She had never been inside before, so we popped in to dry off and were totally blown away at the displays inside. Each of the big name monuments was recreated using plants. It was like a mix between a gingerbread display and the Rose parade in Pasadena.
More than 70 plants were used in the recreations, while there were five commonly used materials - pine cone scales, willows, screw pods, grapevine tendrils and acorn caps. They covered an acrylic-based foam with resin window cutouts and obviously took a LOT of time to create. They note that the Capitol took over 600 hours. Let's just break that down for a second....that's 25 days. That's almost a month. For one of these. Are you ready to be awed?
Isn't that view breathtaking? It made me want to watch Frosty the Snowman...even though this would be the last place he should be. Karen on the other hand - boy that girl was a wreck!
*All photos taken by me with my trusty iPhone
