Christmas holiday light displays Fernwood Wellfield Potawatomi Zoo

In the new holiday lights at Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles — back after they went on hiatus in 2008 — a machine pumps the smell of candy canes as you walk past river birch trees whose trunks are wrapped to look like the swirling mints.

And you’ll hear birds. Now remember ,it’ll be after sunset in these gardens and mature woods — so birds will have gone to bed. Instead, you’ll hear the sound of birds from speakers that a recent grant helped to install. Meanwhile, you’ll be walking a 50-foot stretch of paved path where you’ll see where images of birds, cast by light projectors.

“It makes you stop in your tracks,” Executive Director Carol Line says.

Almost 40 stars from three to six feet wide hang in one section of tall trees, placed there with the help of a lift and a local tree company, Line says.