Urban Gardener Profile: Brian Houck Lincoln Park Zoo Horticulturalist

Brian Houck is the chief horticulturalist at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. His role is to provide garden services and ecological restoration in an urban environment quite unique for most of us gardening in cities. Brian's sincerity and technical skill is compelling. Please enjoy this short interview we have had the honor of getting with Brian.

Brian Houck (on right) with volunteers.

Metropolitan Gardening: Zoo horticulture often might go unnoticed -but I've always appreciated care and thought surrounding animal enclosures at zoos.

Brian Houck: Thank you for this observation. Zoo horticulture does play a significant role in the support for animal well-being and exhibit support. Our charge is to create, re-create and maintain the intended landscape design goals. Views into exhibits are critical to the zoo experience, with the landscape in particular enhancing the immersive feeling for the guest. By immersive, I mean the blending of elements within exhibits and public spaces, for example, stone work that is used in both places. Naturalistic walls, pathways, planting spaces - all of these elements should be complimentary from public spaces right into animal exhibits. This cohesion is more pleasing to the eye and heightens the connection our guests feel with the animals.


Metropolitan Gardening: Your job seems to be one of the most exotic in urban gardening.  

Brian Houck: It’s true that most urban gardeners don’t get to work alongside lions, tigers and bears! My team and I are very fortunate to spend every day in what is perhaps the most unique place to garden in all of Chicago. Lincoln Park Zoo has around 100 gardening volunteers who provide a tremendous service, helping with everything from routine maintenance in animal exhibits to keeping the general grounds neat, well groomed, properly pruned, and constantly featuring new plant species.  

Metropolitan Gardening: How do you deal with climactic issues regarding plants from other places in the world?  

Brian Houck: The USDA recently published an updated version of the zone hardiness map in which all of Chicago is reclassified as zone 6a. Microclimates, or smaller spaces that may capture more heat through the winter, have long been helpful to gardeners who wish to grow plant materials less adapted to a colder climate. Where we are able, we try to expand our plant palette to keep our landscape as novel and beautiful as it can be. 

 Metropolitan Gardening: Do you have to bring in soil as well as plants? 

Brian Houck directing horticulture at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Brian Houck:  Lincoln Park Zoo is adjacent to Lake Michigan and is fortunate to sit upon sandy soil just north of downtown Chicago. Gardeners here do amend the soil by adding recycled mulch, which has greatly improved the soil over our nearly 150 years in Lincoln Park. For our gardens, we benefit from soil that is rich and well drained. For our exhibits, we always follow any guidelines or recommended precautions when changing animals in exhibits or redesigning a habitat.  

Metropolitan Gardening: Tell us about your restoration projects? 

Brian Houck: Lincoln Park Zoo is located at the historic center of Chicago and has long been considered an urban zoo. At our award-winning Nature Boardwalk ecosystem, Lincoln Park Zoo returned a natural landscape on 14 acres using native prairie plants, shrubs and trees. Part of restoration best practices is to manage invasive weeds until the prairie plants are able to compete well on their own. As we enter our third growing season, we expect these plantings to flower, become well established, and show their unique features of mature development.  

Metropolitan Gardening: How do you obtain plants - do you go to the locales an dig them - or import them or what? 

Brian Houck: For example, with Nature Boardwalk, Lincoln Park Zoo contracted with a reputable commercial grower of native plant materials in order to reintroduce certain species. Over 90,000 plugs were planted along a roughly half-mile pond perimeter. These included submergent, emergent, wet mesic, prairie, and shade woodland adapted native plant materials. Other areas at Nature Boardwalk were direct seeded with short grass prairie seeds purchased from a different reputable grower and distributer of native seeds.  

Metropolitan Gardening: How do you deal with temperature and moisture control in such a public space? 

Brian Houck: Areas within the buildings at Lincoln Park Zoo are designed to be natural ecosystems. Plant material, like what would feature in a conservatory, is used to generate interesting and appropriate habitats for the various animals. Being inside, the palette of plants used is much larger than those able to be used outside in Chicago. The building design is complex and meant to accommodate the higher moisture, warmer temperatures, need for natural light, air movement, and additional unique habitat features. The environmental controls are in part monitored through computerized systems and overseen constantly by animal care staff. 

 Metropolitan Gardening: What does the public seem to notice in your work? 

Brian Houck: Visitors to Lincoln Park Zoo experience the grounds in a variety of different ways. We focus on offering a connection to nature - for some that might mean an enjoyment of beautiful flowers, others might pick up on carefully-designed immersive elements, and even gardeners could be introduced to plant species they may wish to use in their own yard. Horticulture work supports all the guests’ activities in subtle ways like providing shade for a relaxing stroll or a picnic lunch, acting as a grassy arena for a music concert, or even providing architectural trees for seasonal lights during the holidays. 

Metropolitan Gardening: What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you while planting at the zoo? 

We do chuckle at our animals’ attempts to garden. New plants added to our polar bear’s exhibit, for example, instantly become a source of unintended “animal enrichment” for her. We can always count on needing to remove substantial amounts of soil from her pool by the time she is done playing with her new horticultural toys. Our puma is another garden design enthusiast, although she prefers a more barren aesthetic than I do. We’ve probably put new sod down in her exhibit 3 times in the past couple of years, only to have her rip it all up in a matter of days.

Lincoln Park Zoo gardening programs: http://www.lpzoo.org/education/programs/gardening-programs

Nature Boardwalk (the blog co-written by Brian and scientist Vicky Hunt is excellent): http://www.lpzoo.org/nature-boardwalk