Global is Growing
(and Gardening)!
At times, Global Wildlife Center has grown by leaps and bounds, but this summer, Global is growing by roots and shoots! Several garden projects have been completed by our horticulturalist, Cali Campbell (on the left with our Animal Care Manager Erika promoting the Adopt-A-Tree Program), and more are just starting to sprout.
The butterfly garden, a favorite spot for people and pollinators alike, is in full bloom! Carefully tended Zinnias bring a riot of color to the party alongside Firewheel, Indian Paintbrush, and Black-eyed Susans, drawing Honeybees, Carpenter bees, Skipper and Sulfur butterflies. The butterfly garden is also home to many Anole lizards, crickets, and even a beautiful writing spider! Be sure to take a look around the garden on your next visit – just remember to leave the flowers for the butterflies!
As you walk from the butterfly garden towards the Capybara Creativity Encounter area, take a look at the back of the gift shop across the way. You may notice bamboo growing in a row there. This bamboo isn’t just a beautification project – it’s a special treat for our Capybara family! As our Capybara herd has grown to nine “Happy Capys” (as we like to call them!), Cali has planted new bunches of bamboo right here at the Visitor Center. In the future, this bamboo will be ready for harvest for Capybara Creativity Encounters!
Speaking of encounters, Global Wildlife Center has just launched the Sulcata Snack and Craft Encounter! This new offering is possible thanks to another of Cali’s gardens – the Sulcata Snack garden is brimming with Prickly Pear cactus and multiple varieties of jade rose, stone crop, zebra plant, and hens and chicks (another succulent plant). These are special treats for our gals, Gaia and Ninja, that our Encounter guests can feed them while touching their shells, giving them a nice scratch with special grooming brushes, and making a clay keepsake impression of their shell scales (called scutes).
Within the tortoise exhibit, we have one more new garden that is just for them! While our fantastic Operations Team recently renovated the tortoise shelter, Cali planted their enclosure with a specialty mix of grasses and flowering plants. Gaia and Ninja are loving the variety of foods and snacks for them to forage on in the exhibit – but their favorite foods are the treats from the Sulcata Snack garden! You can book a tortoise encounter online to meet the gals, learn about their favorite foods, their native habitat, and their incredible adaptations.
These are just some of the newest projects by Global Wildlife Center’s horticulturalist – others in the works – or in the greenhouse! – include the careful cultivation of Acacia tree species for our giraffe tower and the planting of other browse species throughout Global Wildlife Center. Tree planting projects are crucial to providing the highest quality of life that we can for the species that call Global Center home. Herbivores, like giraffes, are tough on trees! With eyes on the horizon, Cali has been planting and tending new forests on the property, as well. You can learn more about how to Adopt-A-Tree in the gift shop and fund the planting of a new tree in an ever-growing forest.