Botanical garden showcases plants larger than life

ATLANTA — "Step into Imaginary Worlds: Plants Larger Than Life" and discover a magical garden where cobras tower overhead, fish dance on water and a giant goddess emerges from the earth. That's how the Atlanta Botanical Garden describes its newest attraction.

"These are just creating sculptures of animals out of plants," Atlanta Botanical Garden CEO Mary Pat Matheson told Nelson's News. "It's pretty amazing. It's almost a magical exhibition, I think. Of course having a unicorn really makes it magical."

A unicorn is one of nine exhibits and 19 pieces featured in the collection. The pieces range in size from the 3-foot rabbits roaming the gardens to the massive 25-foot, 29-ton earth goddess.

"Five (semitrailers) came out of Montreal, loaded up 23 pieces, and they were already planted. When you pull her together, put her together, it took two and a half weeks, it took 23 pieces, 40,000 plants and weighs 29,000 pounds," Matheson said.

It took 15 tractor-trailers to transport the entire exhibit from Montreal, where the pieces were created, to Atlanta. The pieces are built as steel structures and covered with a special fabric that contains planting pockets. Most of the pieces have their own irrigation system.

In total, the pieces include 120,000 flowers and 35,000 pounds of steel.

Check out the amazing pieces Tuesdays through Sunday at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

WSBTV