The plantings at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo are the work of eight full-time horticulturalists and more than a dozen other staff members.
“It’s definitely a labor of love,” said Leigh Anne Lomax, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo horticulture and grounds manager, said about the work that she and her team do to beautify the zoo and provide browse for animals to keep them healthy. The eye-catching flowers, trees, foliage and hanging baskets that bring color and texture to every corner of the zoo, are the handiwork of Lomax's team.
Although the flower beds look effortless, there’s an art to which blooms are planted where, Lomax explained. While it’s fun to imagine that the zoo’s plants are smart enough to rearrange themselves every day, actually the grounds crew changes the date at 6 a.m. every morning.A low-growing plant called Joseph’s Coat, is planted in trays to make the shape of a letter or number. Each day, zoo workers grab the trays needed to create the correct day and date.But at the zoo’s Dino Cove,
Over at the rhino enclosure, showy dahlia and canna flowers, along with papaya trees grown from seed, compete with the tank-like rhinos for visitors’ admiration. The long flower beds that stretch alongside the rhino enclosure are among the zoo’s largest and showiest. After tulip season passed, the bulbs weren’t left in the ground. They don’t bloom as well the second year, and the zoo doesn’t have room to store them over the winter, Lomax explained.
“I really wanted to be a part of it,” Lomax said. “Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is a wonderful place to work. Now I can’t imagine being anywhere else.” The zoo’s elephant herd munches through two truckloads of browse each day. Smaller amounts of browse are provided to rhinos, giraffes, bears and other animals. Everything is checked to ensure that plant material given as browse is safe for animals to eat, Lomax said.The zoo’s horticultural greenhouse, which is not open to the public, is a sort of plant hospital.
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