The dazzling Chinese lantern festival, with larger-than-life installations showcasing the beauty of nature and celebrating the promise of the Lunar New Year, returns to Houston Botanic Garden with all-new displays and interactive elements. Radiant Nature, presented by Reliant, is an unforgettable adventure for the entire family. This year’s exhibit features over 50 Chinese lantern installations throughout the mile-long path, each perfect for creating eye-popping Instagram and TikTok content. Set among the Botanic Garden’s verdant and diverse natural exhibits and featuring a complementary soundtrack, Radiant Nature creates a genuinely serene and almost otherworldly guest experience that is not to be missed.
This year’s exhibit features an all-new collection of lantern installations, including a massive iridescent dome that guests can walk inside, where they’ll find a larger-than-life color-changing, moving lotus flower. The lotus is a symbol of purity, honesty, goodness and rebirth in Chinese culture, making it a perfect fit for a celebration of the holidays and the New Year.
Other stunning new attractions this year include a life-sized Chinese palace, a canopy tunnel constructed of traditional oil paper umbrellas, pandas in a field of bamboo with a waterfall, interactive morning glories and sunflowers, and an interactive dragon that guests can manipulate to make it “dance.”
Radiant Nature is open 65 select evenings, Thursday-Sunday from November through the weekend after New Year’s Day, and then primarily Friday-Sunday the remainder of January & February. Start times vary from 5-6:30 p.m., based on sunset.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Houston Botanic Garden, 1 Botanic Lane, Houston, United States