Alisha David, Carolyn Fath
Produce from a vegetable garden (left) goes to the Goodman Community Center; a special anniversary tribute garden pops with yellow-orange marigolds.
The gardens surrounding the Wisconsin state Capitol come to life in early spring when more than 25,000 tulips bloom spectacularly, en masse. But according to head groundskeeper Steve Green, the gardens reach peak beauty around the end of June.
“Things really start to look good around then,” Green tells Isthmus during a recent tour of the Capitol grounds. “Then, through the dog days of summer, it’s especially nice.”
Green began working as a Capitol groundskeeper in 2009 and has been in charge of the gardens for the last four years. His work varies day-to-day depending on the season, but he stays busy with planting, weeding, watering and monitoring the health of the plants. As he walks through the grounds with a reporter, he stops periodically to pull up plants that are growing where they shouldn’t be. “I don’t like weeds,” he says, tossing aside an errant thistle.
At the end of King Street, in front of the statue of Hans Christian Heg, Green shows off the Capitol’s newest garden, a tribute to the building’s 100th anniversary. White salvia blossoms form the shape of the Rotunda, yellow-orange marigolds represent the “Wisconsin” statue that sits atop the dome. On either side, more marigolds spell out the years, 1917 and 2017. “This one went in May 16,” Green says of the centennial garden. “I laid it out, and the other groundskeeper put it in.”
Walking counterclockwise around the Capitol, Green points out more features. “Each area has a different microclimate,” he says. Dragon wing begonias, pinkish-red in hue, line the south-facing walkways, where they can get plenty of sun. “These are very hardy,” Green says. “We put them in last fall.”
Along the balustrades, he’s planted bronze-leaf begonias and petunias, with bright red cannas filling out the middle. At the end of North Hamilton Street, there’s another special garden, the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial, which is full of blue pansies and honors the men and women who have died in the line of duty. Farther along, where East Mifflin Street meets Wisconsin Avenue, there’s the Gold Star garden, which was established around the time of World War I and remains dedicated to military families who lost relatives in combat. Lime green coleus is planted in the shape of a star, and black dragon coleus forms the border of this simple but impactful garden. In the fall, crews will plant apeldoorn tulips, red and gold, to create the same design. “It makes a strong statement,” Green says.
The Capitol grounds at one time were home to more than 150 trees of more than 30 varieties, though some have been lost to disease and bad weather in recent years. Still, many original specimens remain, including red oak trees that were were shipped from the East Coast on rail cars and kept cool with ice cut from the St. Charles River, Green says. Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the plan for their placement on the grounds. The trees are planted next to walkways and their canopies create an effect called an allée.
The only garden on the Capitol grounds that Green doesn’t oversee is on the South Hamilton Street side. For the past five years, volunteers from Community GroundWorks have tended a 400-square-foot vegetable plot. Plants are just now starting to sprout — peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots. Produce from the garden goes to the Goodman Community Center. “I thought people might pick stuff,” Green says, “but it’s actually worked out pretty well.”
Green doesn’t do it all by himself. He consults with experts from UW-Madison on matters of plant health and gets landscaping help from horticultural work crews from Oakhill Correctional Institute, which he calls the “green team.” The inmates do good, careful work, Green says, adding that one crew member was inspired to pursue a degree in horticulture thanks to the program. But above all else, Green takes pride in keeping the Capitol grounds looking beautiful for the people of Wisconsin.
Says Green: “It’s an honor to take care of a national historic landmark.”
