Horticulture

Most visitors come to the Zoo with animals on their mind, but plants are the first thing they see. Our horticultural handiwork begins at the front entrance with one WOW of a welcome and leads through exotic ornamental plantings to naturalistic, animal exhibits. Continuing through the Zoo, gardens offer educational and therapeutic opportunities for both visitors and volunteers.

Our guests arrive expecting the exotic and that is just what is offered in bright tropical colors and design in the front entrance. Hardy and tender tropical looking plants shine in the summer sun while palms and pansies become striking and strange bedfellows in the winter.

Horticulture at the Virginia Zoo is obviously much more than garnish around animal exhibits. Watch butterflies flash among the flowers, and tigers get "buzzed" on rosemary. Families rest in the Shade Garden. City kids discover that vegetables don't originate in a can. And, people with special needs find that they can give their time and talents back to the community. Welcome to the wild world of Zoo horticulture!

The Zoo's Rose Collection, Shade, Butterfly, Tropical, and Herb Gardens and more, offer our guests an opportunity to experience nature up close and to collect ideas that they can recreate in their own gardening space whether it be a flower pot or a farm. With a small staff, and the usual financial constraints, Zoo gardening practices must be efficient. Selecting tough plant varieties supported by organic gardening techniques keeps the plants, the visitors, the animals, and the staff healthy.

Special garden programs for special people allow those with specific educational interests or those with physical and/or mental challenges to grow fresh snacks (known as browse) for the animals, to display African vegetable varieties, or to nurture existing garden spaces.

For more information about Zoo horticulture, contact mark.schnieder@norfolk.gov or marie.butler@norfolk.gov