Horticulture Principles and Practices

FIGURE 1
Bridge.
The plaza view of the Crystal
(This item omitted from WebBook edition)
Gardens Foundation. The first, located north of the Crystal Bridge, was completed in 1996.
The second, representing the largest single donation for the beautification of Oklahoma
City, is located on the northeast corner of the Gardens and was completed in 1998.
On June 28, 2001, the Dean A. McGee Center, a 5,000-square-foot, multiuse
and meeting facility funded by the Myriad Gardens Foundation, was opened for public
use. The facility was named in honor of early Gardens’ visionary and benefactor
Dean A. McGee.
CRYSTAL BRIDGE FACTS
The Crystal Bridge’s unique design has earned attention and praise in the architectural
community.
• The Crystal Bridge is 224 feet long and 70 feet in diameter. It is covered by 3,028
sections of translucent, double-layered Exolite acrylic panels.
• It took the largest crane in a five-state region to install the 17 tricord trusses that form
the framework of the Bridge, which resembles a massive steel rib cage.
• The Conservatory includes 13,000 square feet of plant display area.
• April of 1987 marked the beginning of planting inside the Crystal Bridge, with most
items purchased from specialty nurseries in Florida and California. Generous donations
of plants from local collectors also helped beautify the Conservatory.
• Plants thrive in two distinct climates inside the Crystal Bridge: the Tropical Wet Zone,
which is at the south end and is watered daily, and the Tropical Dry Zone at the north
end which receives water from April through September, followed by drought from
November through March.
• The wide variety of plants requires daily hand watering using purified and pHadjusted
water, which is treated by a specialized reverse osmosis system. The R.O.
system removes minerals, such as salt, from the water preventing a buildup that can
harm and even kill the plants. The water is just like the tropical rain that the plants
would experience in their native habitat.
• Crashing down from a height of 35 feet, the tropical waterfall on the Wet Mountain
pushes 60-80 gallons of water over its edge per minute. This is accomplished using
two pumps, one 10 horsepower and the other seven.
• Twenty evaporative coolers cool the air inside the Crystal Bridge, each supplying
16,000 cubic feet of air per minute. This keeps the air at a constant temperature for the
plants to thrive. Indoor temperatures range from 62–87 degrees Fahrenheit in the south
end and 60–95 degrees Fahrenheit in the north end in the summer. In the winter, temperature
ranges from 62–78 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on cloud cover outside.
1.2 A Brief History of Horticulture 7