Mike Masterson began working for the San Diego Zoo in August of 1972. Although the job was supposed to be temporary working the Skyfari ride, Mike ended up staying on while going to college (he referred to himself, at the time, as a “Skyfariologist”). In 1977, Mike took two consecutive temporary positions in the Zoo's Horticulture Department. Just as the second stint was about to end, a full-time position became available at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park and he secured that just in the nick of time. Mike worked at the Park until December 2006, when the Zoo hired him back.
(more…)

Judy Bell started at the Zoo in 1977 and has been with the Horticulture Department since 1987.

Every great organization has folks who stand out in their passion for what they do. It's easy to see in the results of their work. Judy Bell is that type of gardener. She has worked in the Heart of the Zoo (an area that includes Monkey Trails, Absolutely Apes, Gorilla Tropics, and the bonobos) at the San Diego Zoo since 1991. Being in that area for so long, Judy has developed a unique relationship with the primates that probably wouldn't occur to most visitors. That connection is where the flora meets the fauna.
(more…)

In 1974, Tom Luedtke was hired at the San Diego Zoo as a part-time summer worker in the Building and Grounds Department. Before working at the Zoo, Tom's previous job paid $2.10 per hour. The Zoo boosted Tom up to $2.30 per hour. By September of 1974, Tom went full time on a winter work crew, and his pay went up to the grand amount of $3.65 per hour. Tom says he was in "hog heaven" (and that was before we had so many pigs at the Zoo!) Tom was hired to a permanent tree trimmer position in 1976. After five years trimming trees, he moved into gardening.
(more…)

I think many readers of these blogs would be interested in meeting some of the incredible staff here at the San Diego Zoo. We have an amazing Horticulture Department, and the people are what makes that so. So, I'd like to introduce some of our workers, and the first person I want you to meet is Senior Gardener Bruce Fontaine.

Bruce started working at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park before it opened in 1972. Within a couple of years, he transferred to the Zoo. Although many of our original "Hort" staff started out in other departments, Bruce was actually hired by Horticulture and has stayed for 35 years!
(more…)

The Horticulture Department has wound down from preparations and activities surrounding our annual Spring Garden Celebration, which turned out to be a smash. I hope you were able to attend, to walk through the Garden of Senses Trail, take a Botanical Bus Tour, or meander around learning about all things related to plants and conservation at the many booths set up around the front of the Zoo. Maybe you enjoyed a cup of organic fair trade coffee, or a taste of organic wine, or were lucky enough to have a sample of the garlicky pasta whipped up by our chef. Whether you joined us or not, there's no need to wait until next year to experience the botanical aspects of the Zoo!
(more…)

The day after Labor Day (September 4, 2007), construction began for the new Elephant Odyssey habitat at the San Diego Zoo. All the plants in the project area had been identified with different colored ribbon. A blue ribbon meant the LIMS (Landscape Installation Maintenance Specialists) crew would be responsible for their removal; these plants were mostly no larger than what would fit into a 15-gallon (56-liter) container. Orange ribbons were awarded to the largest plants that would need to be dug, boxed, and lifted with the help of a crane; an outside contractor would do this work. The lucky plants given a white ribbon would be able to stay in place; Elephant Odyssey would be built around them. The unlucky plants marked with red ribbon indicated they were to be demolished along with the roads, sidewalks, and old exhibits.
(more…)

The San Diego Zoo's Horticulture Department has been working on our "Reforestation" project for a few years now. One of the things that is so important when planting young trees is to think about the fact that they will be there, hopefully, for a very long time. We have been working on creating just that type of long-term happy tree in the Zoo's Monkey Trails and Forest Tales habitat for the few years. The African mahogany trees Khaya nyasica will represent a major part of the canopy in the area. Thirteen trees were planted in 2004 during Monkey Trails' construction from 36-inch box trees. When they went in the ground, they had already been in our nursery for a few growing seasons.
(more…)

Camels, like all creatures, need nutrients to survive. But in the desert, food and water are scarce. So how is it that camels can survive in a harsh climate? They store fat in their humps and live off it in tough times. Certain unique plants and trees from desert or seasonal rainy regions have adapted ways of storing much-needed water in their trunks, and we call these plants caudiciforms. They can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and belong to a wide range of plant families. One exciting characteristic of these plants is that their trunks, branches, and bases tend to be swollen, which helps the plant out in times of drought, but also makes odd-looking plant specimens that people collect and treasure.
|inline

The CRES field project in Cameroon recently said goodbye to our first fulltime volunteer. Jo Osborne (pictured), from England, came to Cameroon in August 2006 and spent the next seven months helping out with our botanical work. Jo has a master's degree in plant taxonomy and spent most of her time at our research station collecting samples of leaves with flowers and/or fruit, which she was able to identify (mostly!) using often intricate floral characteristics that distinguish one species from another. This work is very important to our overall goals in several ways. The botanical composition of a rain forest is the foundation for the animals that live off the plants, whether directly (as in the case of folivores, or leaf eaters, and frugivores, or fruit eaters) or indirectly, by eating the animals that have eaten the plants.
|inline

If I were visiting the San Diego Zoo, an ideal morning would go something like this:

After entering the Zoo right at opening, go directly to the left of the flamingos to the coffee cart. They are now serving organic, shade-grown coffee that is delicious. I am a coffee-with-half-and-half guy, but they also offer the " fufu" drinks so many people love. Now, with a hot java in hand (in a " compostable" cup!), continue just a little way down the path which leads past Flamingo Lagoon into Monkey Trails. Between the flamingos and the coffee cart, there is a magical garden.
|inline