THYME FOR FUN
Profusion of plantings showcases local talent, biodiversity at fair
The amazing animals of the Wisconsin State Fair make it easy to forget about a different form of life. But once fairgoers start to notice the 22,000 plants expertly curated and distributed throughout the fairgrounds, it’s hard not to enjoy them, too.
Throughout the grounds, visitors will find gorgeous arrangements that almost always have a theme, a scent, or a surprise history waiting to be discovered.
Clever containers
Most planters in the park are made from reclaimed and refurbished materials related to the fair, many donated by vendors. Flowers are planted in blue milk crates, chicken boxes, and old light fixtures. A fry basket here, a mixing bowl for cream puffs there. In one bed, flowers are nestled into red seats from a Milwaukee Mile truck.
Other planters are custom-made by the fair’s carpenters and metalworkers. Mine carts outside Spin City pay homage to Wisconsin’s mining history; elsewhere a cottage planter sports a green roof and goat in honor of Al Johnson’s famed Door County restaurant.
Outside the Exposition Center, near two fair-tastic carvings made of Emerald Ash Borer victims, sits a planter that’s literally a kaleidoscope of color made by artist R.C. Anderson of Sturgeon Bay. Give the pot a spin, spin your lens, and prepare for an involuntary “wow.”
The flower team incorporates an occasional joke, too. Outside one bathroom, a luffa gourd grows up around a trellis shaped like a teepee
( Jill Albanese, director of competitive exhibits, is the mastermind behind plant displays showcased throughout the grounds. She’s the one who sneaks the Wisconsin “Ws” into plantings.
Some of the planters are old beehives that belonged to her father, a beekeeper. But her favorite spot in the park is a phone booth bursting with thyme.
Fabulous flowers
A close look at the topiaries reveals that they’re no sculpted bushes. These living statues boast about 1,000 plants each, individually planted over a metal and sphagnum frame. The cow (named Beyoncé), beer can, and other topiaries are planted with ajuga,
fragrant thyme, or plush brass buttons (a fern look-alike that’s related to yarrow and chrysanthemums.)
Hidden among the hurly-burly of the fair are two heron topiaries, peering into a cotton candy bowl.
One of the most-asked about plants, says Albanese, is the Kent Beauty oregano found in many planters. The green of the plant melts into a pink-white ombre, and it smells like pizza.
Luffa gourd plants around the park smell like buttered popcorn; the orange lantana flowers smell like citrus. To get a good whiff of a scented plant, gently grab at some leaves as if to pull the scent off into your hand. If you’re careful, you’ll be able to smell the plant on your hand without damaging the plant for the next passer-by.
Other favorites this year are Mexican sunflowers, super-smelly lemon verbena, cascading “Silver Falls” dichondra, and many varieties of thyme. The theme for this year’s competitive exhibits is “thyme for fun!” so it and other herbs have been used in as many plantings as possible.
Noteworthy natives
Not all of the fair’s plant life is ornamental — although Albanese says one of her goals is for people to see plants they haven’t seen before.
There are plenty of native Wisconsin wildflowers planted for fairgoers, bees and butterflies to enjoy.
One of the fair’s three rain gardens is full of cup plants, natives related to sunflowers that catch water between their leaves like a cup. If you don’t mind feeling short, take a stroll through them, keeping an eye out for the bubblers hidden along the path. BYOB, though, since these cups are for the birds and the bubblers are filled with — you guessed it — more flowers.
The sign welcoming guests to Spin City sits above “Habitat Hero Hillside,” which has been restored to native prairie with coneflowers, senna, blackeyed Susans and many different grasses.
Gardens outside the youth center and next to the expo hall showcase more natives. In the latter, a rustic bison (made by the fair’s metal shop) appears to snack on some prairie dropseed at its feet.
Tireless team
Each year Albanese orders thousands of plants in January from seven different local growers.
Many seasonal team members are local students who get things started during their spring breaks. While their friends laze on a beach somewhere, these folks empty 1,000 planters and refill them with new soil, which arrives via semi each year.
The plants arrive on a single day in May, filling 108 eight-foot tables set up in the fairground parking lot. Staff calls this staging area “Fort Flower.”
The very next day, students from John Hustis Elementary in Hustisford spend a day helping pot the plants. This year, Albanese says, 35 students worked with the flower crew to get about 80% of Fort Flower planted.
Next the flower crew visits Oconomowoc High School to pick up about 300 elephant ears — tropical plants famed for their giant arrow-shaped leaves — that have lived there in greenhouses all winter. “The kids get tickets to the fair. And it’s good education,” says Albanese.
A final wave of plants arrives at the end of June, when a local grower brings in a shipment of plants from Florida. The flower team works nonstop to get everything planted and flourishing by the time the fair opens.
During State Fair, the flower team begins watering at 5:30 a.m. in order to finish before guests arrive. On your next visit to the land of the Giant Slide and racing pigs, set aside a little thyme to enjoy the flower team’s work.