The Garden Worm blog Digging up the best dirt on gardening!

We visited the Winter Show at the Phipps at night this year. What an incredibly beautiful display! All the twinkling lights, the gorgeous poinsettias and other flowers, and everything tucked in and around their usual wonderful plantings.

The entrance area in the Palm Court had an elaborate Victorian-style hearth that was homey and welcoming. Big balls of mistletoe and holly hung from the ceiling there. In the Serpentine Room, a seasonal display of doors with wreaths elaborately decorated in various styles by the staff horticulturists was delightful and the gaudy, glitzy, glittery poinsettias of past years were replaced by a wonderful introduction to the so many beautiful poinsettia varieties we would find throughout the Conservatory.

New this year was the Winter Light Garden located outside in their Perennial Gardens area. Regretfully, we had checked our coats before touring the Phipps and the night was very cold so we didn’t venture very far into that garden. We could see the glowing orbs, the “dripping” icicles on the fabulously lighted trees, and a brilliant fountain of twinkling lights from where we stood for a few minutes. Of note, in keeping with the Phipps’ commitment to environmental sustainability, all of the lights throughout the displays were LED-energy efficient lights.

The 1893 World’s Fair-themed Garden Railroad was decorated for Christmas and operating to the delight of the many children visiting. The Sunken Garden was filled with poinsettias and the overwhelming scent of paperwhite narcissi. The elegant Parterre de Broderie, which apparently is a popular place for intimate weddings, would have made a gorgeous setting with its soft rose-colored poinsettias and twinkling lights for a winter event. The Victoria Room featured a traditional fir tree beautifully decorated with thousands of lights and ribbons and ornaments that reflected in the surrounding water. And finally, the seasonal display in the East Room was a cheerful woodland where bears dressed in shaggy bark cavorted among the white poinsettias and red cardinals appear to flit around a yellow moon with Santa’s silhouette.

We enjoyed this year’s show immensely and hope you will also enjoy this slideshow of photos Kelsey and I took while there. Note that it is a large file so please be patient as it may be slow to load up.