The Other Half and I were delighted his employer chose to hold this year’s company holiday party at the Frederik Meijer Gardens. During this time of year, the Gardens’s displays are transformed. There is always a lovely collection of evergreen trees decorated in styles to represent how Christmas or the New Year is celebrated around the world.

There is also a railway garden, complete with train and models of different buildings from around the city and from sister cities. These miniature buildings are constructed using plant materials by Paul Busse of Applied Imagination.

No representation of our cityscape would be complete without a Calder.

Bark, acorns, gourds, leaves, mushrooms, and branches were only some of the materials used to create the structures.

Plants throughout the display gave the whole exhibit a fairy tale type atmosphere. Dwarf evergreens were used to represent large trees. Splashes of color were added by some tropical plants like anthuriums, kalanchoe, and bromeliads.

One of Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs, the Meyer May House, is located in our city. Here is the model of the home in the railway garden, along with some more detailed shots to see the materials. Isn’t it cool?! I adored the shingles.

And to get a bit meta, here is the Lena Meijer Conservatory which was literally down the hallway.

After enjoying the railway garden, we walked down to the conservatory to check out the after-hours, lit display. It was quite lovely.