The long and short of Zoo horticulture

From turf to trees and everything in between, your Zoo’s horticulture team boasts expertise in groundskeeping and ornamental landscaping, caring for native and exotic plants, propagating and growing in greenhouses and outdoors...oh, and collecting plant matter that provides fresh, healthy food for the animals at the Zoo. It is a massive job, and Zoo Horticulture and Grounds Manager Leigh Anne Lomax says, “I have the best job in the world.”

The Zoo’s horticulture team does so much more than eye-catching gardens (though, those are no small feat). Every plant at the Zoo – indoor and outdoor – is their responsibility. They manage all plant life on the Zoo campus and operate two production greenhouses, propagating and caring for plant varietals from all over the world and even growing food for some animals. They also source branches and plant material for the Zoo’s browse feeding program, which has grown steadily over the years.

PLANNING SEASON, PLANTING SEASON

Lomax’s team of eight full-time horticulturists, five full-time grounds maintenance staff, and 12 seasonal employees are responsible for the dazzling landscapes throughout the Zoo, featuring seasonal garden bed installations and thoughtful touches such as the dahlias that appear near the Daniel Maltz Rhino Reserve in honor of female rhino Dalia, and the bromeliads near Susie’s Bear Hollow, which represent a staple of Andean bears’ diet. Colorful and crisp, these displays are often as much of a draw for Zoo visitors as the animals are.

Planning for the seasonal beds begins in January so the team knows what elements will be purchased and what they will grow themselves, and installation usually takes place in late May. Smaller plantings may be done any time between April and November. Bulb display plans are made even further in advance; Lomax indicated that her team creates their designs each July for the following year so the bulbs may be planted in November. For permanent plantings of trees, shrubs, and perennials, the horticulture team discusses options and makes their selections over the winter, and plants in spring or fall.

HEALTHY HABITAT

So, what goes into the decision-making process for the Zoo’s abundant plant life? A lot. “When we make a choice, we’re making a choice about the health of the 183 acres we take care of here,” Lomax said. The concept of OneHealth, a guiding principle for the Zoo’s strategies in everything from animal care to international conservation to community engagement, is also a crucial lens for horticulture. The idea that people, animals, and environments are interconnected and the health of one depends on the health of the others makes it all the more important to choose plants that support a thriving Zoo ecosystem.

“(The OneHealth concept) is informing the decisions I make about our landscape, even at the smallest scale,” Lomax said. “When I’m out choosing plants, I have this mental checklist: is it native? Is it pollinator friendly? Is it browse-friendly? Is it toxic?” A pollinator garden planted outside the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Auditorium in 2023 brought in plants to nurture a wide variety of pollinators - “not just the popular species like butterflies and honeybees,” Lomax affirmed – and now regularly hosts native bees, wasps, flies, moths, and birds. A combination of trees, shrubs, and perennials creates year-round interest, habitat, and food for local pollinators.

This thoughtful consideration extends to every corner of the Zoo, and every plant that goes into the ground. Lomax explained:

"Even when we’re selecting seasonal color, we’re saying, ‘well, this particular zinnia is really mildew-resistant, we don't have to spray it with anything, the goldfinches really love to come and eat the seeds out of this plant...’ so even though it’s temporary in the landscape, we’re still using the same parameters to make those choices. Every day we’re choosing a healthy landscape, looking at sustainable paths, trying to find ways to use less pesticides, to use natural methods. I love the big seasonal color display in front of the Daniel Maltz Rhino Reserve and people always ask how we manage it. We do hand-weed it for about six weeks, but we’ve chosen plants that get big fast and will just naturally shade out the weeds. Those are very purposeful decisions that I don't think are very obvious when you're walking around the Zoo. Those are small things we’re doing that add up to quite a bit."

FEEDING FRESH

In addition to cultivating a healthy environment at the Zoo, the horticulture team provides fresh food for many of the animals. The production greenhouses house plants ranging from organic wheatgrass to Aframomum, a member of the ginger family that gorillas eat in the wild. Horticulturist Teresa O'Kelley got three small plants from the Denver Zoo nine years ago to see if it would be a good addition to the gorillas’ diet here in Cleveland, and the team now has around 200 square feet dedicated to it. The gorillas love it, and as a type of ginger, it has anti-inflammatory properties that may support their cardiovascular health.

As for the wheatgrass, the vibrant green mats provide both food and sensory enrichment to many species, from small primates to kangaroos to the dwarf crocodile. Sometimes the animal care team adds crickets to the grass for the animals to dig through, or rotates mats between exhibits to let them smell the other animals.

The browse feeding program is a major commitment – and a major feather in the Zoo’s cap that exemplifies its dedication to world-class animal care. Unlike grazing animals that eat grasses, browsing animals consume leafy branches from trees. For these species, browsing makes up a decent portion of their diet and comprises a key natural behavior that often occupies much of their day. “Browse is huge for herbivores,” said Animal Curator Elena Less. “An elephant cracking a whole tree and using its jaw muscles to process it is such an important behavior.”

Lomax reflected that when she started in zoo horticulture at Audubon Zoo over 20 years ago, they provided browse to the animals when it was convenient – when they had it around. Now, your Zoo receives two truckloads each day, with much of the supply coming from Cleveland Metroparks reservations. “We’re really fortunate to have 25,000 acres to collect from,” said Lomax. In 2024, the horticulture team sourced browse from 16 reservations and golf courses and delivered a total of 745 truckloads to the Zoo.

The Zoo horticulture team has a great relationship with colleagues working across the Cleveland Metroparks: natural resources, forestry, golf, park management, and more. When a tree falls, they call Zoo horticulture, who arrive within 24 hours to cut and collect what they can. An approved browse list of approximately 75 plant species, created in collaboration with your Zoo’s science and research experts, animal keepers and curators, and veterinarians, lists the plants that are safe to feed.

NEW GROWTH

The next big thing for the Zoo also promises to be a towering undertaking for its horticulturists. Construction is underway on Primate Forest, the largest capital project in the Zoo’s history. This project will transform and significantly expand The RainForest, and plans for the space reveal a strong focus on the value of forests. ETFE roofing that allows the passage of UV light will make it possible for your Zoo’s horticulture team to plant full-size trees and plants in the space, creating a lush, indoor forest in the 25,000 square foot gorilla habitat to benefit both the animals that live there and the people who visit.

It’s an exciting challenge for Lomax and her team. They will be making careful selections based on the conditions in the building and plants that will be safe to grow around the gorillas. She expects to use mostly tropical trees and palms, many of which will already be large when they arrive for planting. They also removed as many plants as possible from The RainForest, and will care for them in the greenhouse until they can be replanted.

PLANTING THE FUTURE

Looking to the future, Lomax loves to see young people take an interest in horticulture and consider it as a possible career path. Her team has worked with the Zoo’s Education and Engagement division in their workforce development program, showing participants what their job entails and giving them a chance to try it out. In 2023, students in this program created designs for a garden bed around the flagpole in the Zoo’s Welcome Plaza, and the winning design was planted. Whether or not these students pursue horticulture as a career, Lomax considers it a success if they leave the program with a greater appreciation for the diversity of plants around them.

In all it does, your Zoo is pursuing excellence and striving to support the best health of the animals in its care, the community it serves, and the space it occupies. Horticulture is not just one piece of the puzzle; it is present in every piece of the puzzle. The responsibility of caring for all the Zoo’s plant life – and supporting the animal care team with freshly grown and cut items for animal diets – is a monumental one. But, when asked the most difficult part of her job, Lomax said, “Waiting for spring.”