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While King Kong dominates at the box office, giant insects are coming to the Naples Botanical Gardens during the Big Bugs exhibit, Jan. 21-Apr. 23.

Thanks to funding from the Collier County Tourist Development Tax, the popular exhibit will be on display with 10 giant sculptures for public viewing.

“Insects, which we often take for granted, outnumber us one million to one,” says Phyllis Racine, Director of the Naples Botanical Garden Membership and Annual Fund. “When you take this remarkable and diverse group of ‘hidden gardeners’ and recreate them on a gargantuan scale using all-natural materials, the effect is a role reversal of dimension and proportion.”

The giant sculptures were created using various forms and combinations of the trees found standing or fallen dead, cut green saplings selectively harvested from the willow family, dry branches, and other forest materials. The inherent uniqueness of these materials - their different shapes, colors, and textures -provide the sculptures with character, definition, and a sense of motion.

Big Bugs debuted in 1991, when the Dallas Arboretum asked artist David Rogers to create a specific exhibit that would educate visitors on the vital role that insects play in a garden, acting as pollinators, decomposing dead plant material, returning nutrients to the soil, and reducing pest populations.

Racine notes the common traits insects share with humans.

“Many live in communal groups, working as one for the common good of all,” she says. “Their ranks include engineers, soldiers, weightlifters, weavers, hunters, stalkers, gatherers, and even royalty.”

Big Bugs will join several Naples Botanical Gardens exhibits designed to encourage a connection of people and plants through display, education, conservation, and science.

Located at the corner of Bayshore and Thomasson Drives, the concept of the 160-acre garden began in 1993 and incorporated in 1994, when a group of eight Naples residents launched a capital campaign to realize their dream of providing a world-class botanical garden for the community. In March 2000, a $5 million gift from the Harvey Kapnick Family Foundation resulted in the purchase of the properties that comprise the current 160-acre site.

Over the past five years, there has been dramatic advancement toward the realization of the dream as the Naples Botanical Garden is operating within a three-acre portion of the property. A 16,500 square-foot building houses administrative offices, classrooms, a library, preview center, and an indoor-garden event facility serving thousands of residents and tourists as well as the Garden’s 1,200 members and 250 volunteers.

In April 2003, the Garden signed a partnership agreement with Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) to establish the Center for Discovery, a joint-use education and research center on the Garden’s site.

“By the end of 2003, this $5 million project was fully funded thanks to the generosity of nine donors whose gifts were matched by the State of Florida Cortelius Foundation,” says Racine. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2006-07.