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Cleveland Botanical Garden creates vignettes highlighting native selections. Huge fir is local, too
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
Cleveland Botanical Garden is transporting visitors to a holiday fantasy by sticking close to home.
The garden's annual WinterShow, which starts today, puts a spotlight on Ohio plants, from the native selections highlighted in a display of window vignettes to the enormous evergreen towering over the ellipse.
That's in keeping with the garden's mission to support sustainable horticulture, explained Julie Anderson, its director of guest services. Native plants are naturally suited to our state's growing conditions and, therefore, need little in the way of fertilizer or extra water, while locally grown plants reduce the pollution and energy use required for shipping them long distances.
The huge Christmas tree is a concolor fir, a type of tree that grows well in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Anderson explained. Concolor firs also hold their needles well — a must for a cut tree that has to remain fresh-looking for the six weeks it will be on display.
The tree came from Galehouse Tree Farms near Doylestown, as did all the cut evergreens on display during WinterShow, Anderson said.
But the tree's attributes aren't likely to make the biggest impression on visitors. What will is its size.
The tree soars nearly to the ceiling above the ellipse, reminiscent of the supersized tree that used to wow shoppers at the Sterling-Lindner-Davis store in downtown Cleveland every Christmas season. The garden's version is decorated with gold twigs and ornaments in silver and sparkly crystal, but no strings of lights — another
nod to the garden's commitment to reducing energy use.
Down the hall from the ellipse is a display of nostalgic winter scenes framed in windows, each highlighting a native Ohio plant. One of them is mistletoe, which surprised even some garden employees who didn't know it grows wild in parts of the state.
The garden's glasshouse will be dressed up for WinterShow for the first time this year, Anderson said. At least 16 varieties of tropical amaryllis will be planted in the glasshouse's Costa Rica biome, and containers of poinsettias and other euphorbias will be displayed in its Madagascar section.
Some favorite features will return, too, including gingerbread houses created by children, adults and professionals, and trees decorated by garden clubs affiliated with the botanical garden.
WinterShow 2009 runs through Jan. 3 at Cleveland Botanical Garden, 11030 East Blvd. in Cleveland's University Circle.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. The garden is closed Mondays as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's days.
Admission is $7.50, $3 for children ages 3 to 12 and free for members and younger children.
Details including directions and parking information are on the garden's Web site, http://www.cbgarden.org, or call 216-721-1600.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Cleveland Botanical Garden is transporting visitors to a holiday fantasy by sticking close to home.
Get the full article here.
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