Gardening and Gardens

The annual Holiday Train show at the New York Botanical Garden is something I look forward to every year.  After a stunning walk through the conservatory (which I will post about separately), through the tropical rainforests and desert lands, I walked into the main exhibit room and into a whole other world. Before me were 140 New York City landmark buildings and structures, each constructed entirely of natural materials: nuts, tree bark, fruits, pine cones and leaves. Model of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Every now and then I would see one of the G-scale model trains going along part of the half mile track in and around one of these buildings or over one of it's bridges. It's truly amazing that each of these buildings are built entirely of natural materials. The detail on the architecture is incredible, especially knowing it's created from dried plant parts. This is the famous statue on top of Grand Central Terminal train station in New York City: ...

Last month I visited an open house for the Long Island Garden Railway Society in Huntington, NY. My mom's cousin, together with her husband, have created a beautiful oasis in their small yard with running water, a pond, over 50 varieties of Hostas and other beautiful landscape plants. But the main centerpiece is the working railroad track throughout the back yard. My son and nephew (age 4 and 3, respectively) were fascinated with the trains and especially loved watching them go in and out of the tunnels! Though the yard was small, I was impressed with the variety of plants and the combinations of color and texture. Their front yard is enclosed by a white fence and instead of planting the garden along the house, they planted it along the fence. In doing this, they made this front yard seem like a small room, inviting to the visitor to wander or admire the garden from either the yard or the house.  Along the side of the house, they made great use of the natural slope of...