the member magazine for Riverbanks Zoo and Garden | May - June 2025
Riverbanks
Volume XLV, Number 3
Riverbanks Park Commission
Alana Williams, Chair
Mike Velasco, Vice Chair
Cliff Bourke, Treasurer
Jeffrey T. Reeves, Secretary
Robert G. Davidson
Chip Huggins
Deneen Shockley
Riverbanks Society Board
Patti Embry-Tautenhan, President
Wes Jackson, Vice President
Deonca Shuler, Treasurer
Thomas Manly, Secretary
Deans Fawcett, Immediate Past President
Sheila Abron
Emily Bedenbaugh
Will Elliott
Lauren Greene
Corinne Goldman, DVM, MS, DACVIM, SAIM
James Herlong
Denise Hudson
Mark Allen Jones, MD, MBA, FACS
Manny Licata
Donna Longo
Lindsey Miles
Matt Mungo
Allison Sanford
Richard Slater
Jan Stamps
Kaleb Unverfehrt
Riverbanks Executive Leadership Team
Thomas K. Stringfellow, President & CEO
Christie Vondrak, Chief Administrative Officer
Lochlan Wooten, Chief Operating Officer
Rachael Bashor, Vice President of Mission Engagement
Kevin Eubanks, Vice President of Operations
Ashley Harris, Vice President of Finance
Monique Jacobs, Vice President of Advancement
Riverbanks Senior Staff
Brian Blankenship, Director of Guest Services & Security
Shawna Brumfield-Washington, Director of Marketing & Communications
Andy Cabe, Director of Horticulture
John Guertin, Director of Maintenance
Tracy Hughes, Director of Human Resources
Greg Peccie, Director of Animal Care
John Thompkins, Director of Information Technology
Jordan Ward, Director of Construction & Planning
Martha Weber, DVM, Director of Animal Health
Kendra Bottini, Aquarium Curator
Antonio Fernandez, Curator of Birds
Sean Foley, Curator of Herpetology
Andrea Mueller, Curator of Behavioral Husbandry
Alyson Proveaux, Curator of Mammals
Riverbanks Hours of Operation
Daily Hours: 9am-5pm.
Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas days.
Riverbanks Zoo and Garden is located at 500 Wildlife Pkwy, Columbia SC 29210
Subscriptions to Riverbanks are $24 per year. Members of Riverbanks Society are entitled to one free subscription along with free admission and guest
shops, invitations to
visit riverbanks.org or call 803.779.8717 and press
Riverbanks Magazine
Editor - Monique Jacobs
Design Direction - Majken Blackwell
Design and Layout - Trenton King
Contributors - Hunter Balog, Spencer Bautista, Andy Cabe, Jeremiah Devore, Amanda Schlegel, Amanda Segura, Melodie Scott-Leach, Eric Shealy
Contributing Photographers - Larry Cameron, Lynn Hunter Hackett, Michael Jones
Cover Photograph - Walled Garden
On the heels of a year-long celebration of Riverbanks Zoo’s 50th anniversary, we are now celebrating 30 years in bloom. The grand opening of Riverbanks Botanical Garden took place on June 10, 1995. The park was abuzz with excitement, costumed characters, roving entertainment, live music and commemorative seed packet giveaways. Eager Zoo visitors made their way across a brand-new 800-foot-long bridge over the Saluda River and up a steep hill to a 10,000-square-foot visitors’ center (today’s Magnolia Center) and through an intricate labyrinth of spectacular formal gardens. The Garden was a great success, and six years later a dedicated entrance with a parking lot and ticket booth was constructed, providing more convenient access for guests. Another 15 years passed before Waterfall Junction children’s garden opened in 2016, attracting kids of all ages to visit the Garden.
After 30 years, Riverbanks Botanical Garden continues to blossom as one of the nation’s most beautiful and inspiring public gardens. Our dedicated, passionate and creative horticulturists have worked hard to inspire hundreds of thousands of guests to get reconnected with their own yards at home. Garden staff also have taken the lead in several conservation collaborations and projects, working to save vulnerable plants and pollinators from extinction.
Exciting new challenges are on the horizon. Riverbanks horticulturists will be involved in designing and planting in and around new animal habitats and guest amenities as we take steps towards Phase Two of Bridge to the Wild. There is little doubt that these new features will significantly change and enhance the guest experience, but the Botanical Garden will remain at the heart of Riverbanks’ west campus. In celebration of new seeds taking root for a flourishing future, we hope you enjoy this “Garden takeover” issue.
Hope to see you at Riverbanks soon!
Thomas K. Stringfellow | President & CEO
Riverbanks Botanical Garden
and Growing Years
1991 Bond issue approved to build a botanical garden
In late July 1991 Richland and Lexington County Councils unanimously approved a $6 million bond issue request in support of a new botanical garden on Riverbanks Zoo’s West Columbia campus.
1993
Botanical Garden construction begins
Following nearly two and a half years of planning with Zoo staff, architects, garden consultants and contractors, construction started on the botanical garden, growing center and pedestrian bridge sites. An official groundbreaking was considered for April 25, 1994, to coincide with the Zoo’s 20th anniversary.
1995 Riverbanks Botanical Garden opens
NBC’s Today Show personality, Willard Scott, appeared on national television from Riverbanks Botanical Garden on June 9, 1995, and the Garden officially opened to the public on June 10. Guest highlights included the Walled Garden with eleven themed garden beds, a visitors’ center and several pavilions as well as the pedestrian
bridge that connected the Zoo and Garden across the Saluda River. In addition, the Garden featured a state-of-the- art growing facility, to maintain healthy plants for the Riverbanks campus.
1997
Antique Rose Garden opens
The first Botanical Garden expansion showcased antique roses, selected as a core collection due to their disease resistance and ties to South Carolina. The rose garden design showed homeowners a way to incorporate old roses into their home landscapes. The Old Rose Garden quickly became a popular setting for weddings. Unfortunately, all the antique roses were removed in 2023 because of the rose rosette virus. The area was quickly reimagined and is now the Collection Garden.
The Magnolia Center and Walled Garden during construction.
Just beyond Riverbanks lives a species of concern, the Hymenocallis coronaria ‘Rocky Shoals Spider Lily,’ found in rocky areas of our southern rivers. A large “stand” of spider lilies thrives on the Catawba River at Landsford Canal State Park, but populations on the Broad and Congaree Rivers have declined in recent years. Working with other agencies, Garden staff provided support and expertise to grow, replant and protect these amazing flowers—and continue to do so today.
2001
West Columbia entrance, Bog Garden and Shade Garden
open
The same bond issue that brought gorillas to the Zoo brought a new visitor entrance to the Botanical Garden. A densely planted parking lot led to an inviting ticket plaza and into the Bog Garden, named for the habitat of rare South Carolina natives including pitcher plants and Venus flytraps. An iconic purple wall featured a waterfall cascading onto granite stones salvaged from Riverbanks Botanical Garden plant sale.
the 1999 demolition of Columbia’s Central Correctional Institution. Entering guests crossed the tall Treetops Bridge and encountered a small shade garden as a respite before heading into the sundrenched Old Rose and Walled Gardens.
2003
First plant sale at Riverbanks Botanical Garden
One of the Botanical Garden’s main objectives is to introduce and promote new plants to gardeners
and the community. In 2003 the horticulture team launched the first spring plant sale to connect green thumbs and aspiring gardeners to interesting and underutilized plants. Since then, Riverbanks has sold more than 48,000 plants to our members and guests.
2009
Asian Garden opens
The donation of one Japanese maple sparked the creation of the Asian Garden. This small garden was carved from space in the Botanical Garden’s entrance plaza and highlighted plants native to Asia. Combining elements from various Asian countries, this shady spot ended up with a decidedly Japanese feel. Notably, the team reused the original Zoo entrance gates that resemble bamboo and tied in very well with the theme while keeping part of Riverbanks’ history front and center. Revamped in 2024, the Asian Garden now features a new pathway and water feature.
The Bog Garden after opening in 2001.
2016
Waterfall Junction opens
To attract a wider audience to the Botanical Garden, Waterfall Junction children’s garden opened on April 7, 2016, as part of the largest expansion in Zoo history to-date, Destination Riverbanks. This 3-acre oasis invites families and children of all ages to get outdoors and explore nature. Guests can pop in and out of rabbit holes, unearth a life-size replica of a T-Rex, frolic between giant tree houses and playhouses, splash around and under a 25-foot cascading waterfall and run, and rest or play games on a grassy meadow.
2017
Planting with a Purpose conservation initiative begins
Born from the need to provide beauty and function to the Zoo’s newest overflow parking lot, Planting with a Purpose became a conservation focus for the horticulture department. Due to alarming pollinator declines, Riverbanks decided to take action by promoting pollinator friendly gardens in backyards as a great way to support animals through plants. Bees and other pollinators need a helping hand, and Riverbanks now
highlights plants for pollinators. To promote this initiative, Riverbanks plugs Planting with a Purpose onsite and offsite through talks, programs and special events.
North American monarch butterfly populations are declining. Garden staff assist with research by tagging and releasing monarchs as part of the Monarch Watch Tagging Program, a project that collects data to help determine population size and migratory patterns of monarchs. Riverbanks also participates in the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ Monarch SAFE (Saving Animals from Extinction) program to bring awareness to the monarch’s plight and enact a multi-faceted approach that positively impacts monarch populations.
2019 Nature Preschool opens in the garden
Riverbanks’ nature-based, developmentally appropriate preschool provides a unique learning experience for 3- to 5-year-olds. The emergent curriculum focuses on exploration and discovery in nature each day, promotes learning, and prepares children for kindergarten as they develop an appreciation for the natural world.
2021 Schweinitz’s Sunflower conservation project
In 2018 the South Carolina Department of Transportation called on Riverbanks Botanical Garden to help protect the federally endangered Helianthus schweinitzii ‘Schweinitz’s sunflower,’ which was discovered along a project site designated for bridge replacement. Garden staff drove to York County, South Carolina, to remove and temporarily rehome the rare plants until completion of the project. Horticulturists maintained and safeguarded the sunflowers at Riverbanks for several years until construction was completed in 2021. The flowers were then returned and replanted in their native habitat near the new bridge where they continue to thrive.
CEO Satch Krantz delivers opening speech.
Native pollinator collects nectar.
Tagged monarch butterfly.
2023 Collection Garden replaces Rose Garden
Due to the rose rosette virus, Riverbanks horticulturists removed all the antique roses from the Old Rose Garden and reimagined the area. The Collection Garden focuses on a core collection of Crinum lilies but also houses additional collections of popular perennial plants. Garden staff planted and will continue to evaluate the growth habits of plants in the genera Salvia, Hibiscus, Lycoris, Cercis, and eventually Narcissus. Moving forward, the Collection Garden will serve as a guide to the ‘best of the best’ for South Carolina gardens.
2025
Construction of Saluda Skyride
The first significant addition to Phase Two in Riverbanks’ Bridge to the Wild development project, the Saluda Skyride aerial lift will offer a thrilling bird’s-eye view of the scenic Saluda River and surrounding landscape later this year. The electric cable system will connect guests to the Zoo and Botanical Garden campuses while providing unparalleled panoramic views. The project has been carefully planned to minimize land disturbance, protect wildlife habitats, and even create new opportunities for native species, ensuring the well-being of sensitive wetland ecosystems and local wildlife.
2026
And Into the Future
As Riverbanks presses forward with Bridge to the Wild, plans are in the works to add new animal habitats and guest amenities to our West Columbia campus in an effort to spread out growing attendance and attract more guests to the Garden side. This new chapter in Riverbanks history will impact the horticulture team by adding more areas that require zoo horticulture expertise with a focus on animal habitats and landscape design. We look forward to the adventure!
Helianthus schweinitzii ‘Schweinitz’s sunflower’
Crinum lilies blooming in the Collection Garden.
Early construction of the Saluda Skyride.
SAVING SPACE FOR POLLINATORS
Hunter Balog | Conservation Project Manager
Whether you’ve visited Riverbanks lately, checked your morning local news, or scrolled through social media, you’ve probably heard that Riverbanks is getting a new, state-of-the-art attraction: the Saluda Skyride. The Skyride is a 19-cabin aerial lift that will transport guests from the Zoo to the Botanical Garden in 2.5 minutes, greatly increasing the efficiency of moving between the two campuses. As a conservation organization, Riverbanks is committed to environmental stewardship throughout all construction projects, and the Skyride is no exception. While many trees and shrubs required removal for the initial construction of the Skyride, Riverbanks’ Horticulture team has been hard at work planning the pollinator habitat they will plant throughout the cleared areas. Providing ample habitat and food sources to support native pollinators is directly in line with Riverbanks’ conservation priorities, especially as members of the North American Songbird and Monarch AZA Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) programs. Both SAFE programs help to ensure that we keep pollinators at the forefront of on-site projects that may affect the diversity of available habitat.
While the Horticulture team will be planting a variety of trees, shrubs, and flowering plants at the base of the Skyride towers and the surrounding areas, here is a sampling of what you can expect to see in full bloom within the next year:
FLOWERING TREES
Serviceberry
Amelanchier sp.
Provides nectar for butterflies and fruit for songbirds like scarlet tanagers and bluebirds
Ostrya virginiana
Seeds are a valuable food source for native birds like finches, woodpeckers, and mockingbirds. This species is also an important nest habitat.
PERENNIALS
Butterfly milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa
Provides an imperative food source for monarch larvae and nectar for many butterflies
Aster
Symphyotrichum sp.
Produces nectar for butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. Its seeds are eaten by native songbirds like cardinals, finches, and sparrows.
Fringe tree
Chionanthus virginicus
Fruit is eaten by over 75 species of birds
Mountain mint
Pycnanthemum muticum
Provides nectar for bees and butterflies
If you’re looking to increase pollinator habitat and food sources in your own outdoor space, these are terrific options to consider. Even planting just one or two pollinator-friendly plants is a great way to attract new species to your yard. Together, we can increase our collective impact on conservation of wildlife and wild places across the midlands. You can learn more about selecting the right plants by exploring Riverbanks’ Planting with a Purpose program on our website.
Ironwood
A BLOOMING LEGACY ROOTED IN RIVERBANKS
Amanda Schlegel | Donor Engagement Manager
For three decades, Melodie Scott-Leach has been a visionary force behind the lush landscapes and thriving plant collections at Riverbanks Zoo & Garden.
As Horticulture Design and Operations Manager, her expertise and dedication have helped transform the Garden into a living masterpiece, enriching both the natural world and the guest experience.
Now, as she prepares for retirement, she reflects on her remarkable career and looks to the future of horticulture at Riverbanks and beyond.
What first inspired your passion for horticulture, and how did you find your way to Riverbanks?
I always knew I wanted to work outside. I spent two years at Clemson in the forestry program before switching to horticulture. Too much math in forestry. My best friend from college, Jenks Farmer, was working at the Zoo and was leaving to attend graduate school in Washington and told me I should apply. I did and the rest is history.
Looking back on your 30 years at the Zoo, what are you most proud of?
I have redone many exhibits (sometimes up to three times) and replanted entrances and exits and parking lots, so there is much to be proud of. However, I am most proud of the Planting with a Purpose program that encourages homeowners, businesses, and others to plant habitats for pollinators. Native bees have become a passion of mine, and I am doing my best to encourage those with sterile landscapes to provide pollen and nectar (flowers) to protect these small creatures who provide so much for us.
How has Riverbanks’ horticulture program evolved since you first started?
I had a great mentor in Jim Martin, who was the first Curator of Horticulture at Riverbanks. He brought the Zoo into the modern era by transforming the park-like plantings into immersive habitats. Jim was instrumental in moving horticulture to the forefront of the Zoo. When I began, I was one of four horticulturists. We had two small glass greenhouses on the Zoo side, which struggled to supply our needs for the Zoo. With the advent of Botanical Garden, we picked up staff, a great growing facility, and a record keeper. Our staff has grown and changed over the years as each new project provides new challenges and excitement.
Mel’s First Day at Riverbanks
What have been some of the biggest challenges in maintaining and growing the botanical collection?
The biggest challenge is keeping the collection fresh and new in the eyes of the visitor. Landscapes should never be static, and most have a shelf life of about 10 years. The Zoo Garden are about 170 acres and while some of this in not cultivated, it is still a lot of space to maintain and keep interesting.
Do you have a favorite plant at Riverbanks?
I absolutely love perennial hibiscus. I love the huge flowers; the vivid colors and the pop they give any space. There is a lot of new breeding work going on with this plant, and there are many new choices. My all-time favorite is Hibiscus ‘Raspberry Rose’.
What advice would you give to the next generation of horticulturists and conservationists?
Good design has many rules, but don’t be afraid to break the rules and change your plans if you have a great vision for a space. Gardening should be an adventure!
Wild and Wonderful Family Fun in the Great Outdoors
Amanda Segura | Garden Education Manager
Outdoor play is essential for healthy development in children. Exploring novel places and situations encourages kids to take positive risks, build confidence, and develop gross motor skills like balance, coordination, and strength. It also can foster social growth as children learn to take turns with peers, and it creates a situation for critical thinking and problem solving. Riverbanks Botanical Garden offers a safe and engaging environment for families to explore and play outdoors.
Waterfall Junction is a three-acre garden space in the Botanical Garden dedicated to child play and exploration. It features a splash pad and water play in the warmer months but has a lot to offer year-round. The Dino Dig is a great sensory and physical experience as kiddos dig through the sand to uncover bones. The playhouses challenge kids cognitively to find the items hidden in the windows or to play with the manipulative wall panels. The lawn allows families to work on big motor skills like balancing on the beam, building large structures with blocks, or just free play. The fairy garden encourages imaginative play as children navigate under the trees to find gnomes and mushrooms, or pretend they are tiny fairies living in the fairy houses along the trees. Being high up in the treehouses gives a unique perspective of the Garden as children use the weaving wall and do animal yoga. Smelling herbs and discovering how vegetables grow in the Veggie Garden is a wonderful way to teach kids about science and help them understand more about the world around them.
Beyond the gates of Waterfall Junction, guests can experience a unique combination of plantings and settings. Discover the art tucked in the gardens or the colors that come from not only flowers but also stems, leaves, and fruit too. Listen to the sound of the fountain trickling down the canal and hear a myriad of different bird songs. Examine the leaf sizes of different plants and take note of the number of different pollinators that visit the flowers throughout the Garden. Being able to identify these plants and animals is not what is important; it is having the patience and observational skills to recognize the differences and celebrate biodiversity. Take this opportunity to use science words and vocabulary about nature to build literacy and language skills. For adults, just getting down on a child’s level and looking at the world from that perspective can ignite a great conversation and provide lots of things to discover up close.
Families should go outside and spend time together. Just have fun, be silly, be active, or be calm and look at the shapes in the clouds. The interests a child develops during this time will stay with them throughout their lives, and a connection to nature is vital. Early childhood development lays the groundwork for social and academic success and learning outdoors provides a dynamic environment for holistic growth. It can reduce stress and anxiety and improve focus for people of all ages. So, plan your next adventure, and know that Riverbanks has plenty to engage all its visitors.
For a more structured learning experience, we offer adult workshops, Little Learner programs for ages 3 to 5 with an adult, and Riverbanks Nature Preschool for year-round learning. Visit riverbanks.org/education for more information
Horticulture
HiGhliGhts
15 riverbanks horticulturists
2,000 Plants Grown every year from cuttings combined years of Horticulture experience
Melodie Scott-Leach | Horticulture Design and Operations Manager
did You Know?
PropagatinG Professionals
Over thirty years, Riverbanks developed leaders who ultimately took root in other facilities including five garden directors and three horticulture curators.
Power of Persuasion
Horticulturists at Riverbanks played a significant role in introducing colorful leafy vegetables as winter annuals to the nursery trade.
Zero waste
All plant debris at Riverbanks is composted by the horticulture team. Nothing goes to the landfill.
bountiful beauty
Riverbanks Botanical Garden showcases one of the largest public collections of Crinum lilies in the United States.
conservation collaborations
The Riverbanks team partners with universities, agencies and organizations in South Carolina to coordinate conservation efforts for rare and endangered plants including the federally endangered Helianthus schweinitzii (Schweinitz’s sunflower) and the uncommon Hymenocallis coronaria (Rocky Shoals spider lily).
1.5 million Plants Grown since 1995
Plants Grown annually from seed 21,000
The Incredible Crinum
Andy Cabe | Director of Horticulture
When Riverbanks Botanical Garden was in the beginning stages of development, the horticulture team decided to make Crinum lilies a focus of our plant collections. Thirty years later, Riverbanks now boasts one of the largest Crinum lily collections in a public garden in our nation. So, what is a Crinum lily and why are we growing so many of them?
To start with, Crinum lilies, also commonly called milk and wine lilies, are bulbs in the Amaryllis family. When you think about bulbs, you might think about daffodils, tulips or perhaps those large amaryllis you grew inside at Christmas, but Crinum can be much, much larger.
These large bulbs, some bordering on enormous, are native to five continents, mostly found in tropical or subtropical regions. In the 19th century, crinum came to United States on ships from overseas. These crinums ended up becoming what we call in the modern day, passalong plants-plants that are shared from personto-person. Today, these “passalong crinum” can still be found growing at old home sites where they’ve grown for decades. They are often found where only the foundation of a home remains.
In the 20th century, interest in Crinum hybridization started to become popular and a few of the early hybrids like ‘Ellen Bosanquet’ and ‘Cecil Houdyshel’ are now stalwarts in many gardens throughout the country and can be found easily through mail order nurseries. The interest in Crinum began building even more in the 1980’s and has only strengthened as time goes on. Many of the newest Crinum hybrids are coveted and can be very slow to offset. This makes them very costly, going for hundreds—perhaps even thousands of dollars for the newest creations.
One of the primary reasons for choosing Crinum as the cornerstone of Riverbanks plant collections is its durability in the landscape and adaptability to the extremes of temperature. In Columbia (you know, miserably hot and sometimes way too cold) it thrives. It will handle the full sun and can grow in poor soils, but adding compost or other organic matter to the soil will help Crinum flourish. In our climate, crinum foliage can be knocked back with a hard frost, but many varieties rebound once the weather warms up in the spring. Depending on the variety, crinum can start blooming as early as January or February (Crinum bulbispermum is usually the first to bloom). If you choose your crinum varieties wisely, you can have some blooming right up until frost, but we typically say the prime season for blooms is spring and summer.
There are many Crinum lilies growing throughout the zoo and garden but most of the newest and finest specimens can be found growing in the new Collection Garden. When the rose garden had to be reimagined, we moved our entire collection of Crinums to this new, prominent location to showcase this incredible bulb.
Animals, Plants & Horticulturists
Jeremiah DeVore | Horticulturist
Rhinos enjoy brushing their bodies and faces against palm fronds.
Riverbanks Botanical Garden contains a great diversity of plant species that are exciting for horticulturists and guests alike; but it isn’t just humans that enjoy them— the Zoo’s animal residents do, too! Zookeepers tailor enrichment (changes to a habitat to provide stimulation) to a given species’ needs, and fortunately for us, the horticulture department often gets to help.
Our involvement is usually quick and simple, like dropping off browse (plant material the animals eat). Browse such as elm, loquat, and mulberry branches can be helpful to occupy the giraffe on cold winter days indoors, or bribes such as sweet gum, acacia, and elm can rouse wallaby Bart to enthusiastically hop on the scale during wellness checks. Sometimes browse is mutually enriching for animals and horticulturists, like the time I distracted radiated tortoises with hibiscus flowers while a coworker installed fencing to protect equally delicious new plantings. Leading a parade of tortoises on laps around their yard remains one of my favorite workdays to-date!
In addition to food, plants can provide tactile enrichment. For example, rhinos enjoy brushing their bodies and faces against palm fronds and bamboo as well as climbing and scratching their horns on large logs. When woody
sections of grapevine are trimmed, they are saved for use as perching, especially for small mammals in the Riverbanks Conservation Outpost and nearly all the birds around the park. Even unexpected materials are useful, like the 6-foot-wide root ball and stump of a felled tree that gave Butch the grizzly bear hours of digging and scratching entertainment.
Occasionally, we assist in more involved enrichment projects. One of my favorite projects was when we cleared the underbrush and trimmed trees in a previously inaccessible area of the gorilla yard a few years ago. It was several tiring days of work on steep slopes but watching Zakota excitedly discover and scale the newly accessible trees made it well worth the effort.
Working as a horticulturist at a botanical garden has many unique though often predictable responsibilities, challenges, and perks, but working for a combination zoo and botanical garden offers more advantages than I predicted. The beauty, inspiring projects, and welldeserved accolades Riverbanks Botanical Garden has cultivated in its 30 years are what piqued my interest in working here, but the wild world of zoo horticulture has held it. I’m not just a horticulturist—I’m a plant keeper!
FROM SEED TO SOIL
Eric Shealy | Greenhouse Manager
We can pot up to 5,000 plants in a day!
The greenhouse at Riverbanks Botanical Garden is a hub of gardening activity behind the scenes.
This is where we cultivate, propagate, protect and manage Riverbanks’ plants. Spring and fall are our busiest seasons, with spring being by far the busiest.
A typical spring day starts early for me at 6:00am, checking greenhouse plants and ensuring climate systems within the greenhouse are running smoothly. Next, I handle emails, plan production schedules, and complete paperwork to stay organized.
Then it’s on to plant production—whether vegetative or seed propagation, potting plugs from wholesalers, or potting seedlings and rooted cuttings from our mist bench. Potting requires most of the morning, and with my team of six volunteers, we can pot up to 5,000 plants in a day!
After potting, we move plants to the greenhouses, organizing them by variety, light needs, and gardener requests. The day usually ends with hand-watering in the greenhouse and checking the nursery’s water system. Finally, I prepare for the next day by mixing soil, completing paperwork, and cleaning the headhouse to help the volunteers hit the ground running in the morning when the cycle continues.
THE BOG
A Glimpse into Plants
From Around the World
Spencer Bautista | Horticulturist
Gardens have the potential to function like a museum, introducing us to plants and the conditions in which they have adapted to grow. This spring we are working to establish a new planting scheme in the Bog Garden, focusing on plants from our collection that originate in tropical and subtropical climates. Along with these plantings, you will notice many of the beds separated by their original geography. For example, there will be areas dedicated to indigenous African, Australian, Asian, Central and South American plants, and of course our southeastern native wetland plants. The goal is to highlight these areas of the world and introduce guests to the concept of “Plants That Grow Together Go Together,” an idea also known as companion planting. By grouping plants that originate from the same geography, not only will their care and maintenance needs be similar; it will also create a cohesive planting scheme that provides insight into other landscapes.
WHERE IN THE WORLD?
Lillium iridollae
Aristolochia labiata
WHAT’S NEXT?
Plants are not the only new element in the Bog Garden. The signature purple wall will get a fresh coat of bright blue paint. The color was inspired by gardens around the world, like Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, Morocco and Casa Frida Kahlo in Mexico City, Mexico. This new approach highlights some plant adaptations that have evolved around the globe, and perhaps some similarities they share. The hope is to spark your interest in exploring what is on the other side of the world, as well as what might already be growing in your own backyard.
