They Are Flying Out October 12!
Don’t miss your chance to see 70 Flamazing Flamingos flocking throughout the Garden.
#FLAMAZINGFLAMINGOS
Enjoy Flamazing Flamingos, fun and educational exhibit for people of all ages. The topiary flamingos will be located in various sections of the Garden and will allow visitors the opportunity to see what’s involved in the care of topiary plants and how to maintain their beauty and precise look. These beautiful flamingos are on loan from the Franklin Park Conservatory.
“Flamingo Fever” has already begun at the Garden! The week before Valentine’s Day, we offered the opportunity to name and adopt a pink flamingo topiary while it resides at the Garden this summer – we were sold out within 6 days! The community is definitely excited with anticipation about visiting the Garden during the summer and early fall to enjoy the beauty and visual effect of 70 pink flamingo topiaries in various positions and staged throughout Norfolk Botanical Garden.
What is a topiary?
A topiary is defined as the art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes. The flamingo topiary frames are built from welded tubular steel and will have six different poses and dimensions. Each frame will be filled with pink begonias and all sculpted faces will be repainted for optimal display. Each frame will contain around 80 plants and will be planted upon arrival at the Garden. The upkeep on these topiaries is fairly labor intensive including: hand watering daily, fertilizing once a week, trimming every 3 – 4 weeks and checking the moss on each topiary on a weekly basis.
Education
NBG’s Education Department will develop educational interpretive signage for Garden visitors to learn about the art of topiaries and the care that is required to maintain its beauty. In addition, topiary classes will be offered during this time period so visitors can learn how to grow and maintain their own beautiful display. Because of the Garden’s vast number of social media followers, we will put together a time-lapse series from the day the frames arrive until they are put on display so our guests can truly appreciate all that’s involved in building and sustaining the flamingos. The Children’s Garden area will also create programming to learn more about the natural cycle of plants and their care in order to maintain their vibrancy and how that relates to our flamingo topiary visitors.
