WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Holiday traditions are a little different in South Florida. With the warm weather you also see Santa in board shorts, palm trees with Christmas lights, and tropical Christmas trees at Mounts Botanical Garden.
The horticulturalist at the garden have designed three three ranging from 8 to 15 feet high. They are on display through New Year’s Eve (Tuesday – Sundays from 9 a.m – 4 p.m.)
One tree is made of orchids to celebrate the Year of the Orchid. West Palm Beach was once known as the Orchid City.
STICKWORK RETURNS
A new Stickworks installation will open to the public on Saturday, Dec. 3.
“It's a big woven sculpture, and it's made out of sapling to Willow saplings. And we just entwined them together in interesting ways,” said its creator Patrick Dougherty.
The sculpture uses 30,000 pounds of willow branches imported from Canada. Artist Patrick Dougherty has created around 300 installations around the world. This will be his last large-scale installation before retiring from creating them.
Dougherty said kids love it, “Kids know everything about sticks. You know, they're a weapon, a tool, a piece of a wall, and they really appreciate something like this.”
“These [sculptures] lasts about two years. They're meant to be temporary. It's like every good flowerbed has its day. So the sculpture has its day as well. We have one over the Naples Botanical Garden that made it through [Hurricane Ian] so I guess this one will survive too,” joked Dougherty.
See other creations by Dougherty byclicking here.