Plants
The City of Fortuna staff and members of the Heather Enthusiasts of the
Redwood Empire ('HERE') with the assistance of the Fortuna Garden Club started
the plants for this huge project as early as 1995. Over 400 different varieties
of heather cuttings were prepared for propagating and nurturing.
The facility was completed three years later and the landscaping was started
at that time. A computer-controlled irrigation system was installed and nearly a
thousand yards of high-quality topsoil, organic matter, peat moss, perlite and
vermiculite was mixed and placed into the beds.
The last weekend in October 1998 saw a large number of volunteers complete
almost four thousand heather and conifer plantings.
Design
Landscaping surrounds the facility, with plants everywhere. Some of the
gardens are used to delineate parking areas or for space to support the lighting
systems. The Overlook
Garden was planted before water was available to the area and is composed of drought tolerant plants.
An artificial cliff behind the
lodge supports a hanging garden of
Rosemary.
Landscape Gallery
Watch the landscaping grow! Click on any of the thumbnail pictures in these
files to see a much larger version:
Other heather sites
on the web
