Waiting Plants

I'm anxious to plant the conservatory. Cold weather is approaching and so is the opening weekend! Plants that were ordered and shipped have been scattered throughout the facility. Many of the smaller plants were placed into our greenhouses while larger plants have been tied to the railings surrounding the exterior of our production greenhouse facility. Some of the plants for the new conservatory have also served many functions; some are currently on view in the Mythical Beasts summer flower show, others will be on view for the fall flower show. Our new Indoor Display Specialist for the Tropical Forest has been familiarizing himself with the plants and our Greenhouse Production Staff is anxious to get all of these plants moved out of the greenhouse so that they can begin to grow plants for the spring flower show and our next exhibits: Dale Chihuly Art Glass and Tropical Forest: Amazon.

Construction Progress

Work on the Tropical Forest Conservatory has been progressing. The majority of the concrete sidewalks are completed and a crew from Cost of Wisconsin is creating the dramatic stonework (including 2 waterfalls, a stream, and a fish pool). Since the weather is getting cold, several of the largest trees were moved inside. We anticipate the arrival of a crane (to assist with planting) on Monday. The crane and operator will stay all week and help us to move the trees to their destinations throughout the space. Many of the trees are 30' tall, in 200-300 gallon pots and weigh over 2,500 pounds.

Plywood covers the walkways so that they aren't damaged while we are planting. Some rebar cages remain in the foreground - these are the first stage of the rockwork.




The crew from Cost of Wisconsin, Inc. installs rebar cages below the canopy walk. In the background you can see one of the waterfalls that the've completed. Once the cage is placed it is sprayed with Shot-crete, a few days later another layer of concrete is added as the rocks are sculpted and details like crevices are added. A painting crew follows and adds layers of green, brown, and black paint.













In this photo, the stream is in the foreground. Many planting pockets with drains and plugs have been added - they will be filled with Thalia, Cyperus, Pandanus, and Alocasia. The stream rockwork has been completed but the large waterfall wall [in the background] that hides behind scaffold and plastic has just been hit with its first layer of concrete.