It's no surprise that Dale Chihuly has enchanted environments for decades with his brightly colored glass-blown sculptures. Yet one of his largest installations ever attempted, Chihuly: A New Eden, at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, is perhaps the most bewitching of all his endeavors.

A New Eden's thousands of pieces of glass have taken over and transformed 15 various sites over the sculpture park's expansive 132 acres. Though Chihuly's work is no stranger to the gardens — the park has two permanent installations and hosted Color & Light in 2003 — A New Eden features only site-specific sculpture throughout the garden's grounds.

Radiantly colored towers, like the 16-foot-tall "Citron Green and Red Tower," adorn the English Perennial Garden. A battalion of lofty reeds stands at attention on a hillside as in Red Wreaths, and the whimsical floating "Walla Wallas" colorfully transform The Groves and Hekman Pond into a sea of transparent greens and metallic blues. Color has also found its way into the Lena Meijer Children's Garden, as amber and yellow reeds dominate as sparkling barriers in the grass.

Aside from its astonishing colors and fantastic shapes though, the installation garners attention for other reasons. Vice President and Chief Curator Joseph Becherer says it's at least in part, thanks to the artist's medium.

"We all have experience with glass, from drinking to things like vases," Becherer said. "It's just so wonderful that glass can be a major medium for an artist, especially for an artist like Chihuly, who has built his entire repertoire around it. What he does with it really captures attention."

Though the bulk of its pieces are blown-glass, several installations are made from polyvitro — Chihuly's own polymer — which appears to be

Chihuly: A New Eden Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids Through Sept. 30 meijergardens.org, (616) 957-1580

glass upon first sight, but is actually plastic. Venture to the Wetland Shade Garden and on the way, see the "Lime Green Tower," looming like a massive rock candy baking in the sun. Nearby, inspect the brilliant yellow-orange of the "Saffron Tower," made of intermingled neon. For more of Chilhuly's neon work, head inside to the Arid Garden and see the twisted and tangled "Tumbleweeds."

Also inside, the uppermost windows of the Tropical Conservatory trap the "Polyvitro Chandelier" from escaping into the atmosphere like a tangle of runaway helium balloons and the indoor pond welcomes the multihued lily pad-like "Persians."

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park will host Chihuly: A New Eden through Sept. 30, as a highlight to the park's 15-year anniversary.

"Among the most beautiful discoveries that visitors will find is how A New Eden will change between April and September," said Steve LaWarre, director of horticulture. "Color, light, and shadows will delicately evolve with plants and glass as we move from spring and summer into autumn."