Three Gardens of Note —

designed for aesthetic appeal, and its physical layout isn’t designed to be serviced in a very effective or efficient way,” commented Gomez-Phillips. “Wright’s position was the architecture, the beautiful aesthetic, comes first. It straddles a big roadway that basically spans the length of the building. This is a busy event space, so getting event companies and their equipment in and out of the site and maneuvering around the general public when you’ve got a project, it’s all part of the job.” The landscape and facilities team has had to exercise some creativity to get plant materials delivered to the roof or access the floating terrace for maintenance. From hauling materials in the freight elevator to using scissor lifts to access planting areas, to dealing with seasonal cleanup of the beds, flexibility is key. “There isn’t a good place for a compost pile, so we’ve gotten good at tucking it away and doing some creative screening with plants or containers.”

Working with the Elements

Monona Terrace has a spectacular location with sweeping vistas of the lake. However, that lake has its own temperament and moods. There’s been floods in wet years and scorching temperatures in dry years. With no buffer of trees, buildings, or other landscape elements, storms hit harder. “I’m managing planting areas 90 feet in the air on top of a building,” observed Gomez-Phillips. “We don’t just have high winds, we have gales, and frequently. Then of course in summer, it’s drought conditions because the building acts as a heat island.” Plant choices have to be able to handle high winds, deluges of rain, and baking sun. Native plants made sense, especially species native to prairies that have evolved to tolerate extreme conditions.

Another element of working with the environment is animal and bird life. The planting areas act as a green oasis for all kinds of animals, birds, insects, and more. “We have foxes, raccoons and squirrels, plus birds of prey including hawks and owls,” commented GomezPhillps. “We even had a deer up here last year.” Usually, wildlife is welcome, but they experience high rabbit pressure as well. Gomez-Phillips also deals with a robust mallard duck population that finds the grasses a great spot to build nests. Each year he helps about 10 to 20 groups of ducklings get down to the water from the planting areas. “The moms love to nest in the sheltering grasses, but there’s no way to get the ducklings down to the water where they’re supposed to be,” said Gomez-Phillips. “So we catch them all. I walk the ducklings down the ramp to the parking lot in one of the garden bins. There’s a spot that really echoes, so we hang out there until mom finds them and flies down. Then I put them into the lake. I’ve got it down to a system.”

A Living Design

Coming from Olbrich Botanical Gardens prior to Monona Terrace, (continued on page 24)