Minnesota arboretum's flower show offers a nice winter respite
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It’s a nice break from our Minnesota winter landscape.
The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Spring Flower Show is underway. It runs through mid-March at the arboretum in Chanhassen, southwest of Minneapolis.
I had the opportunity to drift through the event and grab a few pictures last weekend. I thought Updraft readers might appreciate this mini tropical interlude in the dead of our Minnesota winter.
There are some microclimates at the event that allow colorful tropical flowers like orchids to thrive.
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The air plants called tillandsia in the balcony area were among my favorites.
The displays are super creative and took months of planning from the arboretum staff and grounds crew. The displays in the event include many plants and trees from the grounds of the arboretum brought inside.
Here are the arboretum’s descriptions of some of the show’s special features:
NEW! An ever-changing display featuring a new floral exhibit by a different local artist or designer every week of the show.
● Birds and Botanicals - Spot birds in sculptural form among the blooms as part of a special art exhibit that intertwines the elegance of avian life with the lushness of plant forms. Featured artists are Fawzia Khan, Mindy Sisk and Patty Carmody Smith.
● Herb garden - Touch and smell plants in this aromatic garden to lift your spirits and calm your system.
● Mushrooms - Learn how to follow sustainable harvesting and foraging practices, see mushrooms in all their stages of growth, and experience the wonder of nature’s recyclers breaking down plant matter into its most basic building blocks.
● Botanical weavings of branches, grasses and other plants collected from the Arboretum grounds will hang from the beams of Oswald Visitor Center.
● Enchanted woodland village - Imagine a world where elves and gnomes cavort featuring fairy houses - small and a new human-sized creation.
● Woodland friends hunt - Find mischievous enchanted creatures hiding among the Flower Show blooms. They travel around during the show to keep the search alive.
● Uncover the hidden layers of plants - Terrariums reveal the layers of healthy soil and roots in plain sight, giving you a chance to slow down and see the smallest details.