News and Stories

One of the things that Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden visitors love about our campus in Avondale is the beauty of the gardens.  In addition to providing color and lushness, every plant and every landscape that they see serves a purpose. 

The same is true for the hundreds of native plant species that we grow at Bowyer Farm, our off-site facility in Warren County.  We’re using the acres available to us to trial which species does well in this region of the country and sharing that information with growers and homeowners.   

The amount of diversity that we have in native plants in the tri-state area is remarkable, but many of those plants can be difficult for individual gardeners to find. We’re trying to expand the pallet that’s available to them so we’re getting more diversity into the landscape, which is just great for the ecosystem all the way around. 

Many insects and wildlife are dependent upon plant species, and plant diversity satisfies the needs of a variety of creatures.  For example, there’s a hibiscus bee that requires hibiscus for its life cycle, so we plant plenty of it at the farm. 

In addition to our Native Plant Program, we’re supporting work being done by our plant scientists at the Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) to grow plants that are endangered.  They get rare species of plants, such as Kentucky clover and northern monkshood, to start growing in the lab and then we plant them at the farm and ultimately help to reestablish them in their native environments. 

These programs focus on native plants here in our region, but Cincinnati Zoo is also supporting an innovative native plant program across the world in Madagascar where our partners at Madagasikara Voakajy are working to protect the endangered baobab tree. They help communities grow them, plant them, and use the fruits for food and/or income. 

And, just as the hibiscus at our farm helps bees here, the baobab trees support bats that are pollinating and feeding on the tree’s flowers.  Bees, insects, and even lemurs benefit from these trees as well. 

As the manager of our Native Plant Program, I think about native plants all the time. April is Native Plant Month, so my hope is that sharing stories like these will inspire others who may not have native plants top of mind daily to consider adding a native plant to a garden or windowsill.  You can find them at one of our Native Plant Sales at Bowyer or at a garden center wherever you are!