Cedar Point Amusement Park has a nice horticulture display. Tom Roberts directs the horticulture department at Cedar Point. He has been with the amusement park for 25 years. Tom said he enjoys his job, but did not talk highly of the horticulture budget. Tom works with a staff of 7 full-time employees and 15 to 18 part-time employees. He gave us a small tour and let us walk around the park.
Cedar Point started in the 1870's. The park was first a beach resort on Lake Erie. The beach resort has evolved into a 364 acre amusement park for all ages. The park has some of the world fastest and highest roller coasters. The park opens the second week of May and is open through the first week of September. The park is open September 12 to October 10 weekends only. The last three weekends are called HalloWeekends which the park is decorated with Halloween sprit.
The largest area of plantings is on the midway. This area started from the front entrance, which continued to about the middle of the park where the main walkway splits to smaller walkways. These gardens are very formal. Along the midway, a short iron railed fence or a short hedge encloses the formal gardens. Some of the formal beds contain a manicured turf that mirrored all the way around the bed. The majority of the plants planted were annuals. The plants used are all purchased because Cedar Point does not have the facilities to grow plants themselves. The colors used are bright colors. One of the formal beds contained a large urn.
Plantings were used to emphasize signs in the park. For example, in front of each ride there are signs telling what the ride is and the restrictions. Plantings of annuals in a bed of mulch make the sign much more attractive.
Maintenance of the plants can be tricky when the park if filled with guests. Activities of the day need to be planned around the opening of the park. The horticulture staff starts at 6 A.M. and works till 2:30 P.M. The park usually opens at 10 A.M. which makes it difficult to get all of your work done before the guests arrive. All vehicles and motorized equipment must be out of the park by 9 A.M. which make the time constraint even worse. The work that needs to be done around the hotels is saved to the afternoon. This is a preventative so the hotel guests are not disturbed in the mornings. All watering needs to be done in the early hours of the morning. Cedar Point uses loud motor powered water trucks to water their plants that are not on an irrigation system. Even the use of water hoses, that are quite and do not involve a vehicle, can easily become a tripping hazard to the guests. Applying pesticides are also important to be scheduled into the day. Applications of the pesticides are completed in the morning as needed.
Horticulture problems do exist at Cedar Point. One of the major sources of problems is the guests. Guests are not aware of the stress that they put on plants. Walking through a planting or pouring left over beverages on plants are just a few examples how guests mistreat the landscape. Tom had said that at Cedar Point they practice "defense landscaping." Fences, hedges, and raised beds help keep people to the path and not in the landscape. The climate is also a concern. The early opening and the late closing dates are challenges for the horticulturists. Frost and wind damage can damage the plants enough that they would have to be replaced, especially if it is early in the season. Tom told us that for the first two weeks the park is open there are no plants in the ground. The later season plantings can be changed out to hardy mums, which give color in the fall. There is also a problem with seagulls. Having a location off of Lake Erie brings lots of seagulls into the park. The guests like to feed the birds, which cause the birds to hang around. There has not been much damage to plants from the seagulls, but the birds enjoy hanging out in the trees. Trees are needed to provide shade for the guests, but who will sit under a bird infested tree. This is a consideration when plantings are being chosen. Another problem that is common with most places of business is the budget that is allotted. The horticulture budget determines the number of employees that can be hired as well as the projects that can be completed that year.
Completing an internship at Sea World this summer gave me a lot to compare to. One difference between the two parks is Cedar Point is an amusement park and Sea World is a theme park. The classifications of the parks give you an idea of what the corporate goals are and where the money is spent. Cedar Point emphasizes the rides and attractions, where as Sea World has entertaining shows where the landscape ties in the theme. Cedar point was decorating the park for their Halloweekends. They showed the Halloween theme in their gardens; however, the people from the office decorated the park not the horticulture staff. Another comparison that I made was the number of horticulture full time, part-time, and internships at Cedar Point were much less than at Sea World. I would not have guessed this because Cedar Point is spread out and a much bigger park. In both parks there is a special crew to take care of trash pick up. This helps the horticulture staff save time to complete the rest of their duties.