The Flower & Vegetable Garden

The Grotto’s mechanical room will enable the beautiful fountain to flow, the space to be lit at night, and house the electrical support for the entire garden area.

We’re grading the ground behind the headhouse (the work center for the Greenhouse), creating a smooth entrance/exit.

The Grotto gains more features: not only its distinguishing fountain, but also a ramp and stairs.

More stairs will be formed and poured at the back of the headhouse.

Continue to move forward on building the concessions building and Education Pavilion.

Electrical and plumbing for any spaces that can be hooked up, depending on each area’s progress, will continue as well.

On our Education Pavilion, we’ve framed the support and poured the concrete floor that will ultimately create a continuous surface between the open patio space and the covered pavilion.

The bathroom we’re working on next will have tiles inspired by the Lilly Family Swimming Pool from the 1940s (and also used on the new Beer Garden pavilion at Garden Terrace).

We’re building footings and walls for the loading dock area, which will enable smooth transit of items to/from the Flower & Vegetable Garden, including the culinary outpost snack shack.

Fun fact: The snack shack will be covered by a green roof with a variety of plantings including sedum, grasses, and shorter alliums.

We’re giving hard hat tours to long-standing donors involved in the Flower & Vegetable Garden from its earliest beginnings as well as new fans of this ambitious project. Message donors@discovernewfields.org if you’re interested in learning more.

Focusing on the Grotto stairs: forming, reinforcing, and pouring concrete.

Creating the Education Pavilion, bathroom, and snack shack area framing and exterior trim.

Preparing and pouring the concrete slab for the North Service Drive.

Working on the Reflecting Pool gunite, which is on-site sprayed concrete that allows the pool to be built both durably and to our custom shape.

Our team has selected the perfect finish and dye for the concrete to create beautiful and practical paths and patios at the Flower & Vegetable Garden.

The exposed aggregate finish we’ve selected gives a visual nod to the original gravel paths, while prioritizing accessibility and ease of maintenance.

A very busy July: We’ll build the Grotto walls and pour concrete for the interior domed ceiling. This will be done in six separate phases due to the ceiling’s unique form and design. Expect some great Grotto progress over the coming month.

We’ll frame and trim the pavilion, bathroom, and concession areas.

And we’ll form, reinforce, and pour the concrete for the loading dock area walls and North Service Drive.

In the coming weeks, we’ll begin the process of building the Grotto. This will be done in multiple stages because of complexity of the domed ceiling. In fact, we will pour concrete in six separate phases.

The final floor will be made of dyed concrete with a nice finish, so the team will be reviewing samples and picking the perfect shade.

Our Grotto begins to come to life! Soon, we’ll begin work on the Grotto area to create a beautiful respite, rain or shine. We’ll also begin all the underground plumbing including hooking up utilities for a fully equipped Grotto space, complete with fountain.

We continue to build the basement of the pavilion and restroom area, including underground plumbing. Once that’s finished, we’ll aim to complete the walls and prepare/pour the concrete slab for the basement floor.

With foundations and walls for the pavilion and culinary outpost and restrooms complete, things will come together quickly. As we install the floor decking and framing you’ll see the new space and the possibilities that these buildings will be adding to our campus.

Did you know? We’re reusing giant limestone slabs that were once part of our old headhouse as the stable foundation for the compacted soil to become our gently graded wall. We’re enabling guests to safely access a beautiful vista above the entire Flower & Vegetable garden.

Truck loads of plants just arrived. Many of these are rare and unusual perennials that are tricky to source. We’re bringing these on behind-the-scenes as we plan for an early fall planting and allow for any weather delays that might occur in summer.

Continuing to prep fall plantings. Horticulturist Marian Keith, with help from the whole Horticulture team, will begin collaborating with our construction partners to plant wherever possible in outlying areas.

Excavating the basement and forming and pouring footings. Keep an eye out for walls eventually coming up.

Electrical and plumbing conduits placed under Greenhouse sidewalk west entrance.

Successfully relocated fiber box on north end of existing headhouse (the work center for the Greenhouse)

Pour decorative, durable concrete pathway on west side of Greenhouse

Excavate basement and pour foundation

Excavate and install stone to create dry detention (drainage) area at the north end of the service drive

Preconstruction meetings completed with structural steel and waterproofing engineers

Weather delays provided an opportunity to work through challenges

Basement Excavation and underground plumbing

Basement footings to be poured

Grotto underground plumbing and electric

On-site work planning is underway and more contractors are beginning to mobilize.

Soil Proctor Compaction Testing completed. This ensures the soil is compacted just right (not too loose/dense) for healthy roots and stability over time.

Preconstruction meetings completed with Electrician, Plumber, Concrete, and Landscaping contractors.

Basement excavation

Footings to be poured for the basement

Underground plumbing for the basement and grotto

Underground electric for the grotto

Initial drone flight captured site overview (photograph above). Look out for these regular images as we transform the former parking lot area.

Contractor Scope Review Meetings being completed, contracts are being awarded, and pre-construction meetings are beginning to mobilize contractors.

Install erosion control

Demolish parking lot, Pergola, sidewalks, railings, etc.

Stockpile retaining wall stone

Excavate the site

Deliver storm structures on site