Washington, D.C. – This year’s annual U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG) holiday exhibit, Season’s Greenings: America’s Gardens, will open Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2019, and run through January 5, 2020. The exhibit caps off our year of celebrating the diversity and beauty of the more than 600 public gardens in the United States.
Join us to explore botanic gardens from Hawaii to Maine in this year’s holiday show! Twenty-four plant-based recreations of conservatories, fountains, and sculptures will fill the model train room, where eight model trains chug around waterfalls, through tunnels, and over visitors’ heads. The building models will showcase iconic garden scenes from 22 states, including Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Japanese torii gate, Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ flamingo topiaries, Missouri Botanical Garden’s famous Climatron conservatory, Biltmore Estate’s Conservatory, the Science Pyramid from Denver Botanic Gardens, the Singing Tower from Bok Tower Gardens, Huntsville Botanical Garden’s Rocket Garden featuring a NASA space node and rockets, and many more!
The Conservatory will be filled with thousands of flowers, including a showcase of heirloom and newly developed poinsettia varieties. Our collection of D.C. landmarks made from plant materials will return to fill the Garden Court, and the West Gallery will feature a 26-feet-tall decorated tree with its own model train.
Two new elements this year courtesy of the Friends of the U.S. Botanic Garden (Friends) will be a gift shop and coffee, tea, and hot chocolate available for purchase on the front terrace near the wait line for the model train display. The Friends’ gift shop will offer items such as ornaments, post cards, chocolates, books, and other educational and botanical gift items, and will be open Wednesday through Sunday each week of the Season’s Greenings exhibit. The Friends’ hot beverage stand will be run by local coffee roaster Zeke’s Coffee and will be open all weekends throughout the exhibit and daily December 13-January 1. Proceeds from the gift shop and beverage stand will benefit education programs at the USBG.
The U.S. Botanic Garden is open to the public, free of charge, every day of the year including holidays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays in December, the Conservatory will be open until 8 p.m. for live seasonal music concerts and after-dark holiday exhibit viewing.
Holiday Music in the Garden concerts begin at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m.; this year’s schedule includes:
- 12/3: Project Natale (contemporary jazz)
- 12/5: Capital Accord Chorus (choral)
- 12/10: The Capital Hearings (a cappella)
- 12/12: Tony Craddock, Jr. & Cold Front (smooth jazz)
- 12/17: 40 Thieves (Irish rock)
- 12/19: Lox &Vodka (klezmer and Jewish folk music)
- 12/24: Changamiré (jazz)
- 12/26: Dial 251 for Jazz (contemporary jazz)
- 12/31: Samovar (Russian folk)
The Conservatory is located at 100 Maryland Ave. SW, on the southwest side of the U.S. Capitol. Visitors are encouraged to use public transportation. More information is available at www.USBG.gov/SeasonsGreenings
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- Note to Editors: Photos and video clips available in Media photo folder (photos of new Bartholdi Fountain model, D.C. landmarks, model train show, poinsettias, decorated tree)
About the U.S. Botanic Garden
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is the oldest continually operating botanic garden in North America. The Garden informs visitors about the importance and fundamental value and diversity of plants, as well as their aesthetic, cultural, economic, therapeutic and ecological significance. With over a million visitors annually, the USBG strives to demonstrate and promote sustainable practices. The U.S. Botanic Garden is a living plant museum accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and Botanic Garden Conservation International. www.USBG.gov