NORFOLK, Va. — The Norfolk Botanical Garden is installing rare and endangered plants in its new $50 million Garden of Tomorrow project, which is now slated to open late summer following construction delays.
The 26,000-square-foot Perry Conservatory will feature rare and endangered plant life divided into two biomes: a desert and a rainforest.
Conservatory Director Michelle Baudanza took News 3 up to the top of a second-story catwalk in the rainforest biome, as garden workers poured soil and watered newly-installed plants below.
"It's really fulfilling to see this finally coming together," Baudanza said, adding that the garden received its first plant delivery on Monday, with shipments arriving from California, Arizona, and Florida.
Baudanza said the plants could not be taken from the wild, but were acquired through nurseries and other botanical gardens.
"Because of deforestation, these plants are threatened or endangered," Baudanza said. "Plants are also often poached in the wild."
The project aims to save these plants from extinction while educating the public on species they would not normally see in Virginia. Outside the conservatory, the project will also offer new gathering spaces with food and drinks.
"There are so many plants and components of this project that I genuinely love," Baudanza said.
But the public will have to wait longer than expected to see it.
The opening date for the Garden of Tomorrow was recently pushed back. When we last visited in October it was slated to open in the spring, but it's now opening in late summer due construction hurdles lingering from the pandemic and some that came up unexpectedly.
"A lot of people don't know that [Norfolk International] airport, which is next door, used to encompass a slightly bigger footprint and we did run into some buried airport tarmac," Baudanza said. "And we also encountered a couple of unmarked utilities."
Despite the delays, I am told it is all coming together now and workers can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Really excited to have the public see this beautiful space," Baudanza said.
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