U.S. Botanic Gardens

On Friday after Thanksgiving we joined daughter Sarah, son in law William and granddaughter on a subway ride into downtown Washington, DC.

Sarah had read there was a model train exhibit at the Botanic Gardens which is on the National Mall near the Capitol.

Lots of others had read the same thing and the line was incredibly long for such a very cold morning.

We opted to just visit the gardens inside and skip the train exhibit which was accessed through another door.  We did see one model train (above) at the entrance.

Inside was all decked out in holiday plantings.

"Seasons Greenings" they called it.

Christmas trees with coconut trees towering over them.

And everywhere these models of Washington landmarks.  Above Supreme Court.

Union Station

Library of Congress

Botanic Gardens

We wandered through different ecosystems.

The White House

Washington Monument

Smithsonian Castle

Jefferson Memorial.

When we saw this one a light bulb went off in our heads.  The dome is a gourd.

All these models were built with plant materials - 70 different ones the brochure told us.  The Capitol took more than 600 hours to build.

Lincoln Memorial with columns made of branches.  Also used: seagrape leaves, eucalyptus leaves, birch bark, corn husks, lichens, willow sticks (maybe those were the columns), coriander seeds, burl oak, kangaroo pods, wheat, sisal rope, pine cones scales and lots more.