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Oh, hoppy day! Going down the White Rabbit hole at the New York Botanical Garden.

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Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
HOPPY DAYS ARE HERE: A 12-foot-tall White Rabbit made from plants greets visitors to “Wonderland: Curious Nature,” an exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden based on Lewis Carroll’s books.
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At the New York Botanical Garden, you don’t need to go down a rabbit hole to encounter a 12-foot-tall White Rabbit made entirely of plants ... or to stand beneath larger-than-life kinetic mushroom sculptures. 

Installations inspired by Lewis Carroll’s beloved children’s books are sprinkled throughout the 250-acre garden as part of the “Wonderland: Curious Nature” exhibit, which runs through Oct. 27. Inside the garden’s conservatory are many plant specimens appropriate to Carroll’s Victorian era. Leaves of elephant ear plants, already large, can grow as big as umbrellas.

Why We Wrote This

Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” has delighted children since the Victorian era. Some of his beloved characters are in larger-than-life form at this topiary exhibit in New York.

Diana Dil poses for a photo encircled by her little girls, all in blue except for the youngest in pink. Behind them, the conservatory pool is filled with giant water lilies. A multicolored Alice peeks out from the foliage in the distance. The family has excitedly visited the “Wonderland” exhibit twice.

“I want to live here,” says Ms. Dil.

Expand the story to see the full photo essay.

Alice might have thought she found Wonderland, but she hadn’t, because she never made it to the New York Botanical Garden’s latest exhibit. Here, you don’t need to go down a rabbit hole to encounter a 12-foot-tall White Rabbit made entirely of plants ... or to stand beneath larger-than-life kinetic mushroom sculptures. 

Installations inspired by Lewis Carroll’s beloved children’s books are sprinkled throughout the 250-acre garden as part of the “Wonderland: Curious Nature” exhibit, which runs through Oct. 27. Inside the garden’s conservatory are many plant specimens appropriate to Carroll’s Victorian era. Leaves of elephant ear plants, already large, can grow as big as umbrellas.

Diana Dil poses for a photo encircled by her little girls, all in blue except for the youngest in pink. Behind them, the conservatory pool is filled with giant water lilies. A multicolored Alice peeks out from the foliage in the distance. The family has excitedly visited the “Wonderland” exhibit twice.

“I want to live here,” says Ms. Dil.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
ARE WE HAVING FUNGI YET? A garden cottage at the exhibit was built with bricks constructed from mycelium, a network of fungal threads. The exhibit runs through Oct. 27.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
THRILLING LILIES: The botanical garden is a favorite destination for Diana Dil and her children, pictured near a pool of water lilies.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
WALK UP AND SMELL THE ROSES: A visitor strolls toward the botanical garden’s Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, decorated for the “Wonderland” exhibit.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
HERE’S LOOKIN’ AT YOU, KID: Vashti Arsala performs a puppet show for her mother, Maeve Roughton, and a young visitor in the garden’s pop-up play area.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
SHROOMS WITH A VIEW: Giant mushrooms are part of the "Wonderland" exhibit.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
LEAFING AN IMPRESSION: A caladium, or elephant ear plant, grows as part of the exhibit.

For more visual storytelling that captures communities, traditions, and cultures around the globe, visit The World in Pictures.

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