While many people don’t consider Cleveland a vacation destination, there are many wonderful attractions to share with visitors.  One of my favorite places to take guests is the Cleveland Botanical Garden (CBG) located in University Circle.   My visits are usually in summer when the outdoor gardens are in full bloom (and it’s more agreeable weather-wise), but this time was as the CBG was preparing for the holidays and their WinterShow, special exhibits that are on display through January 2nd.

Visitors are greeted by a huge, beautifully decorated live Christmas tree with a toy train looping around it.  Surrounding the atrium were life-size animal topiaries and the hallways were lined with smaller Christmas trees and unique gingerbread houses (and even a plane) created by children, adults and professional bakers.
I headed into the Eleanor Armstrong Smith Glasshouse, a 18,000-square foot conservatory that houses two distinct ecosystems -- the Lush Rainforest of Costa Rica; and the Spiny Desert of Madagascar.  Living within these ecosystems are more than 350 species of exotic plants and more than 50 species of butterflies, insects, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Entering the Spiny Desert of Madagascar biome, you’re overwhelmed by the sight of a 40-foot tall life-like Great Baobab Tree representing a tree that would be hundreds of years old.  It’s no surprise that ancient legend claims the gods uprooted the baobab and repositioned it upside down after becoming enraged by the baobab’s desire to be more beautiful.  Because of their unique appearance, baobabs also are considered the homes of spirits who receive offerings of grains, money and rum for general prayers and fertility.  They can go for a year without water and have moisture-rich wood capable of feeding cattle during a drought.  The CBG also has five live baobabs, including one that is at least 75 years old – one of the oldest baobabs outside of Madagascar.

Madagascar has some of the world’s most unusual plants and they are represented in this exhibit.  Plants with water-storing leaves and trunks; plants with no leaves; or plants with spines, all different in appearance but beautiful in their own right.  Madagascar also is home to the rose periwinkle which is used to treat leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease.

Hiding amongst the plants are a variety of creatures native to the Spiny Desert.  These include the lesser hedgehog tenrec which can communicate with other tenrecs by vibrating its quills, as well as lizards, chameleons, radiated tortoises and red-billed fire finches.

Following the trail through the Glasshouse you eventually cross a threshold transitioning you from the arid desert into the Costa Rican rain forest.  One of the reasons I love to go to the CBG is to watch the leafcutter ants.  I stop to admire their work ethic - it’s an amazing sight to watch them carrying their cuttings back to their nest in long lines. 

The Costa Rican biome also is filled with more than 200 butterflies representing 20 species.  (When you leave the biome, you’re asked to check your body in mirrors at that door to be sure that you aren’t unsuspectingly carrying some out.)  It houses a variety of wildlife from the hard working leafcutter ants to chameleons, frogs and colorful birds.  As you explore the rain forest you walk underneath a waterfall and then you can climb up a tower to view the rain forest canopy.  

After leaving the rain forest (but not before carefully checking for hitchhiking butterflies), I walked through the row of gingerbread houses and into the outdoor gardens.   There are a dozen different gardens which include both native and imported plants, including a herb garden, a Japanese garden, and, in season, the Hershey Children’s Garden, one of the few such gardens in the country.    It includes a cave, dwarf forests, worm bins, wheelchair-accessible tree house and its own herb garden. Right now there’s ice skating on Wade Oval through mid-March.

When I was ready to go, I looked across the front grounds and the Cleveland Museum of Art beckoned me.  What serendipity that the museum was just across the way and I had 90 minutes to explore the museum before it closed.  I will write about that experience in a future blog.