Tower Hill Botanic Garden Hosts Winter Carnival This Weekend

Email to a friend Permalink

Friday, February 22, 2013

Jeffrey Starr, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

The famous Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston's very own world-class garden paradise, will be hosting its second annual Winter Carnival this Saturday, February 23rd from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. The various festivities involved are designed for the whole family and will be a great way to cap off this vacation week.

Outdoor activities will include snow sculpture and fort making (as long as there is still snow on the ground) and scavenger hunts. There will also be a walking tour of the Garden's breathtaking woodland trails to identify trees in winter, and to look for signs of wild animal life such as animal tracks. You will also be able to meet alpacas from Great Rock Alpacas in Barre.

Michael Arnum, Director of Marketing and Public Relation for Tower Hill Botanic Garden, hopes this event makes it clear that beautiful gardens don't only need to be identified with Spring and warm weather.

"We hope to communicate the fact that Tower Hill is welcoming in every season, to people of all ages and from all walks of life... We hold the event to demonstrate that winter is a fun time in the garden, and there’s more than meets the eye with all the things that are going on in the garden."

Visitors are also welcome to partake in indoor activities. These will include various children's crafts and games and delicious hot chocolate. There will also be three separate puppet show performances of plays The Dog and his Reflection, The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse, and a few classics from Aesop's Fables, all performed by Len Gerwick of Gerwick's Puppets.

Visitors should also explore Tower Hill's indoor gardens, like the Orangerie and Limonaia, that are still going strong even in the midst of winter. These luscious gardens contain plants from all around the world.

"We hope they will gain an appreciation for nature in winter—just because the plants are dormant, for example, they are not dead!" says Arnum.
"There is much to see and appreciate this time of year—some plants like Chinese Witch Hazels actually bloom now. We hope to engage young visitors in a fun and exciting way to help them appreciate and understand the natural world."

Most importantly, Arnum hopes children above all are able to take a lot from the experience.

"Ultimately, we hope that young people will be inspired to nurture a plant or a garden on their own," he says.

Regular admission is $12 for adults, $9 for seniors and $7 for youth with children under 6 getting in for free.

The Tower Hill Botanic Garden is located at 11 French Drive in Boylston. For more information on this and future events please visit their website or find them on Facebook.
 

Related Articles

• Tower Hill to Host Accomplished Saxophonist
• Gardening Tips After a Mild Winter
• NEW: Tower Hill the Place to Be for Arbor Day
• NEW: Tower Hill to Host Annual Primrose Show
• Tower Hill Botanical Garden to Host Shades of Autumn this Weekend

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

Email to a friend Permalink