Although the holidays slip by quickly, there’s still time to catch “FROST: An Ice-Capped Garden Experience at the Cleveland Botanical Garden,” the Northeast Ohio attraction’s exhibit ending Dec. 31.
And hours until 9 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays give an added bonus of lights against the darkness. That includes the first day of winter, Dec. 21, when our hemisphere has its greatest tilt away from the sun. Although it is the longest night of the year, it marks the time when days become longer as daylight returns in time’s march toward spring.
Visitors are welcomed at the “Frost” entry by fluffy overhead clouds and the 30-foot-tall, moss-covered “Christmas Tree“ to which bromeliads and hundreds of handmade flowers are affixed. It took horticulturist Summer Tolan more than 60 hours to install.
When I asked about where to check my coat, I was told to keep it because part of the “Frost” exhibit is outdoors.
To the left, visitors enter a tunnel of poinsettias, created from more than 4,000 living white and dyed purple-shaded plants interspersed with real-looking artificial ones. It’s a delightful place to linger.
It was a bright and sunny December day, so I welcomed stepping outside.
Ornaments are hung on the trees around Geiss Terrace, and another tunnel laced with twinkle lights leads further into the gardens, which also are beautifully lit.
Returning to the building, I was greeted by decorated live trees, their piney fragrance filling the hallways and rooms. Area garden clubs have done them, and the work those clubs have put in is obvious. Many of the trees are ornamented with dried hydrangeas, dried onion relatives such as allium flowers and other delicate shapes.
There didn’t seem to be a contest among the more than 40 decorated live trees, but I would have given high honors to the Lyndhurst Garden Club for its effort, “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.”
I was eager to check out the gingerbread house competition, so I skipped the Madagascar and Costa Rica glasshouses for another time. But after my visit, I learned that several Red Bishop Weaver birds have been released in the Madagascar biome, and I later wished I hadn’t been in such a hurry to see the gingerbread houses, which have a 17-year history at the Botanical Garden’s winter show.
More than 100 creations fill a room, and some of the gingerbread prize winners also are displayed in the lobby, where children, especially, have a hard time keeping their hands to themselves.
The “Gingerbread Windmill” created by JoAnn Vanlunterer had a first-place blue ribbon next to it.
Although everything in a gingerbread house is edible, it’s unlikely any of them are eaten, tempting though it may be.
While it may be a stretch to connect many botanicals to the rest of the “Frost” exhibit, signs among the gingerbread houses tell about the plants making them possible. For instance, the “glue” holding gingerbread houses together is made from the juices of the sugar cane plant boiled to become molasses, sugar syrup or caramel, while marshmallows, which now are made with gelatin, originally were derived from the boiled roots of a swampy plant called the marsh mallow. And ginger, which had medicinal and preservative uses long ago in tropical Asia, became popular for gingerbread houses in Germany with the creation of “Hansel and Gretel” stories. Its roots, or rhizomes, now are found on supermarket produce counters everywhere.
My favorite gingerbread house was a dollhouse-like creation best viewed from both the back and the front. Wafers were used to create the staircase and bed with candy canes, pretzels and marshmallows making the furniture.
‘Frost’
Where: Cleveland Botanical Garden, 11030 East Blvd.
When: Through Dec. 31 — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. December 24 and December 31; closed Mondays, including Christmas Day.
Admission: Nonmembers — $23 adult, $16 child on weekdays and $26/$18 on weekends; members — $10/$7 on weekdays and $12/$9 on weekends; groups of four to nine get $10 off at checkout using code FROST4.
Info: holdenfg.org/cleveland-botanical-garden or 216-721-1600.
