San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers sprouts new holiday exhibit

Little City by the Bay: In the Golden Gate Express Garden Railway at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, model trains zip through a tiny version of San Francisco, complete with replicas of Coit Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid. (Mike Koozmin/Special to The Examiner)

Gardens, gauges and garbage make an interesting mix.

When the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers planned its holiday exhibit, organizers took miniature plants and trees; model trains and tracks; and reclaimed discards, and re-fashioned everything into a 50-foot garden railway replica of The City.
Remarkably, it looks a lot like the real thing.

The Golden Gate Express Garden Railway — an exhibit designed by Chip Sullivan, professor of landscape architecture at UC Berkeley — features the Transamerica Pyramid, made of recycled computer parts and 600 computer keys.

The Golden Gate Bridge is composed of red milk crates, fire alarm pulls, Mardi Gras beads and ketchup bottles. The Ghirardelli Clock Tower is built with electric switch covers. The food-centric Ferry Building has a cheese grater as the tower, and spoons, cocktail forks and wine crates at its base.

A streetcar and two G-gauge trains add sizzle, but what makes the exhibit work are the plants. The show is “It’s a Small World” for greenery. Everything is scaled to the size of the structures.

Four tiny palms, 6 inches high, stand in relief in front of the Mission Dolores replica, which is made of film canisters.

Minute stones, covered in lichen and retrieved from Golden Gate Park, are placed strategically throughout the three-level exhibit. Shards of tree cork with moss resemble cliffs.

Dwarf conifers, cypress, spruce and yew, some only 5 inches high, add a festive air, their branches touching the roofs of the diminutive buildings. There’s even a baby Noble Pine.

This miniature San Francisco has lots of holiday green — and red. There’s ivy, fuchsia, amaryllis and cyclamen. A new species of variegated poinsettia adds more color.

While a fountain gurgles at the center of the garden railway, scores of spruce, blue spruce and pines line the perimeter of the room. The air is redolent.

“This room probably has more oxygen than anyplace else in San Francisco,” Conservatory Director Brent Dennis says. “It’s about the beauty of plants and sustainability. It’s a wonderful lesson about living in The City.”

All the plants are watered regularly from various entrances in the exhibit — a tip many gardeners forget when they pot plants and bring them indoors.

IF YOU GO

The Golden Gate Express Garden Railway

Where: Conservatory of Flowers, 100 John F. Kennedy Drive, Golden Gate Park, S.F.

When: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays; closes April 19

Admission: $1.50 to $5

Contact: www.conservatoryofflowers.org