Bromeliad tree sprouts at Selby Gardens

A Douglas or balsam fir just isn't how Marie Selby Botanical Gardens likes to celebrate the holidays. 

Over three days a team of more than 10 volunteers and employees of the Horticulture Department coordinated and built the bromeliad tree on the lawn of The Christy Payne Mansion. Carefully the team members placed potted bromeliads into place on a frame.

The frame that holds the bromeliads reaches 20 feet in height but with the added cone and star topper the tree stretches to 25 feet tall. The final touch was stringing 500,000 lights starting from the base of the tree to the top. 

The tree will be lit up starting on Tuesday in anticipation for the annual Lights in Bloom the 12th annual holiday light exhibit that begins Dec. 18.