During the cold and colorless winter months, it’s easy to fall into the cycle of seasonal depression.

Dennis Maulsby, Ames community member, said he suffers from seasonal depression during this time of the year but finds solace at Iowa State’s Reiman Gardens.

“It’s wonderful to come out and sit with all this light, and the humidity is controlled,” Maulsby said. “You can sit there and absorb all this and come away feeling a lot better.” 

At the monthly Brown Bag lecture Thursday, Reiman Garden’s assistant director Aaron Steil unveiled the theme for 2017, along with plans for various displays and programs throughout the year.

The 2017 theme will be water, and all of the events and displays for the garden will be designed to incorporate that theme.

Currently, there is one display called “Petals & Parasols,” which was inspired by umbrellas and features many umbrellas lining the ceilings. One of the bigger displays for Rieman Gardens is called Washed Ashore and involves sculptures of various animals made out of trash collected from the ocean.

The Washed Ashore display will feature 10 sculptures of animals, including a penguin, jellyfish, seal, polar bear and more. They will all be at Reiman Gardens by May and will remain there until October.

“This will be the first time these sculptures will be at a public garden,” Steil said. “While they have been displayed at zoos and science centers, this will be a first for the art.”

One sculpture has already arrived. Zorabelle, the rockhopper penguin, is the first Washed Ashore display to arrive at the gardens.

There are a number of other displays planned for throughout the year, including Springtime Swirl, which will include 47,000 tulip bulbs of various color meant to imitate water colors, Steil said. Bath Time & Bubbles will be a display for the children’s area of the garden, featuring flower and plant displays that will mimic bath tubs, sinks and bubbles.

In the late fall and winter, the final display of the year will be Snow & Ice, which will feature the return of the Reiman Railroad. The area will be deigned to look like icicles and snow and other winter features.

Maulsby, who frequents the garden, is a fan of the 2017 theme.

Steil also ran down the events planned for the year, including the eighth annual Orchid Festival in February and the 14th annual Garden Art Quilt in September. 

2017 will also see the finishing of the Hillside Garden in the spring, a project that was started in October 2016, and the beginning of Sycamore Falls, a new area that will be located on the south end of the garden.

A complete listing of a the plans for the upcoming year can be found on the Reiman Gardens website.

Steil said the planning for each year’s theme happens a long time out, so many of these project and displays have been in the works for a couple of years.

Sara Merritt, education director at Reiman Gardens, was an integral part of the planning process, as were all of the staff members.

“I feel pride in the effort we put together as a staff, and excitement, because we’ve been talking about these things for several years, so to finally see them come to fruition is really exciting,” Merritt said.