Seasonal decorations created by Theatrum Botanicum are featured in the current issue of the national magazine "Country Living Gardener."

The six-page, full-color spread contains more than a dozen photographs of the botanical design firm's work as it appeared in and on homes around the village.

"Highly imaginative and wholly original, their signature works evoke a primordial connection to the earth, blending forest elements with pure fantasy," the article's author Amy Flurry wrote.

Theatrum Botanicum, located in Hartwick Seminary, is well-known locally for their trademark wreaths which can incorporate hundreds of individual pieces of dried and fresh plant material.

"We want to redefine the aesthetic of holiday decorations, to go beyond the traditional," said Theatrum Botanicum principal Gary Barnum.

The exposure has been good for Barnum and his partners Tony Costanzo and Tim Gill.

Barnum said response to the article was "wonderful."

The magazine, dated "Winter 2003/04," resulted in emails, letters and calls from far-flung places and last Friday they were preparing a piece for shipment to Maine.

The magazine article taught the trio that they weren't as well prepared for the holdiay season as they should have been, Barnum said. "We're working now on Christmas 2004. We have to produce pieces further in advance than we thought," he said. "Christmas has become much bigger than we imagined it would be."

Christmas isn't the only thing they're working on. Planning has been underway since the fall for the coming landscape season which is the other primary thrust of the business. Theatrum Botanicum specializes in transplanting large caliper trees and already has 80 trees tagged in nurseries waiting for the change in season.

For more information go to their website www.theatrumbotanicum.com.