The United States Botanic Garden’s annual model train holiday display is back — with a prehistoric twist.
In today’s episode of “Matt About Town,” we’re heading back in time (to the Cretaceous Period specifically) to celebrate Christmas a little differently at “Season’s Greetings: Dino-Mite!”
Combining 11 dinosaur sculptures made entirely from plant parts, nearly a dozen G-gauge model trains, and a lush, Jurassic Park-like forest of seasonal plants, this attraction has a bit of everything to captivate the entire family.
Artists from Applied Imagination, an outfit out of Kentucky, who partnered with the Botanic Garden to do this holiday display, used all sorts of naturally-occurring materials — from acorn caps to grapevine tendrils to cinnamon sticks, driftwood, and more — to craft these dinosaurs from scratch.
You might recognize some, like T. rex, but others, like the Astrodon (the official dinosaur of the state of Maryland) can also be found looming over train tracks and in between ferns, cycads, magnolias, and other plants from the same prehistoric time period.
If that’s not enough for you, the Botanic Garden also has an awe-inspiring Christmas holiday display inside its conservatory, featuring an array of Christmas-themed plants like poinsettias and holiday wreaths, alongside their other featured attraction: 22 iconic models of D.C. monuments and landmarks, all made entirely from plants, too.
Dino-Mite runs through Jan. 4 at the Botanic Garden. Admission is free.
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