WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the Thanksgiving and winter holidays here, some holiday exhibits in our nation’s capital are going back to prehistoric times to celebrate the season. On Thanksgiving Day, the US Botanic Garden will unveil their unique holiday display, including some of their traditional holiday items.
“We have over three-thousand poinsettias from about 20 different varieties both stem from the 1950s to brand new things that are not even for sale on the market,” said Devin Dotson, senior communications officer for the US Botanic Garden. “And of course, our DC landmarks all made out of plant parts.” The USBG arranges several prominent DC landmarks and Smithsonian Museums inside their conservatory, mimicking the National Mall. “We also have five Christmas trees out here decorated with dried plants and flowers and seeds and all sorts of really cool things,” added Dotson.
The USBG also creates a unique train display. This year, they’re back to the land before time.
“For the first time ever we have dinosaurs and other animals of the Cretaceous era and the plants along with them and that’s really how this came to be,” said Dotson. “We’re changing our holiday display over the years working with the local artists’ imagination in Kentucky and this year we said you know what? We have a really cool connection to dinosaurs because one of our permanent plant collections in the conservatory are plants from the Jurassic and Cretaceous era.”
We spoke with a couple of dinosaur enthusiasts about this exhibit, and they couldn’t contain their excitement.
“It has a bridge,” exclaimed kids visiting the exhibit. “It has a lot of cool features the train can go through things. It’s like you’re going back in time. Do you think the dinosaurs will eat the trains? No because they’re fake.”
Just like the model figures of prominent DC landmarks, each of these dinosaurs are also made up of plant parts.
“If you go up close, you’ll see seeds and leaves and twigs and grapevines and all sorts of things,” said Dotson. He adds artists spent anywhere from a few months to a whole year creating those model dinosaurs and the DC buildings for this holiday exhibit.
The USBG said their holiday theme celebrates plants in an unexpected way.
“Immerse yourself in some warmth and some greenery indoors and out and have a little holiday fun.”
