Four destinations are nestled throughout the 1,100+ feet of track that make up Paul Busse Garden Railway. The handmade structures and plantings reflect the theme of the destination.
Who Lives Here features whimsical, animal-inspired structures. The distinct artistic process used by Applied Imagination has been honed over the course of about three decades and is on full display in Who Lives Here. They’ve created structures that they imagine various animals would live in, including an opossum, giraffe, zebra, monkey, tiger, skunk, snake, porcupine, owl, squirrel, turtle and peacock.
The Conservatory’s Horticulture and Exhibitions staff got creative in pairing the animal houses with plantings; the plants are specific to the building they surround and give the impression that each animal has a yard. The skunk has fragrant variegated foliage plants while the snake has a cobra spruce. The giraffe family has pruned the surrounding trees to their preferred height and catnip grows in the tiger’s yard. Of course, the monkey has a banana tree out back.
