The renovated Botanical Building showcases new plants and old designs

Nan Sterman is known for her expertise on the most water-efficient plants for a garden, but many of her favorite plants require direct sunlight. When the city of San Diego commissioned her to design the planters in Balboa Park’s Botanical Building, the reopened to the public on Fridayshe had a lot of work to do.

“There is a big difference between the amount of light each wing gets,” she said. “We have a sunny side in the west, a shady side in the east and a transition zone in the middle.”

Some of the larger plants either remained in place or were moved to an outside nursery during the process the three-year, $26.5 million renovation project. These are now mainly in the east wing, along with other tropical plants that grow well in filtered light.

“The east side is really green,” Sterman said. “The west side is purple and orange and red and yellow.”

Sterman said many of the plants she picked for the west side will produce fragrant flowers, such as Gardenia thunbergia.

“It doesn’t look like much right now, but it will reach about 10 to 12 feet tall,” she said. “It’ll have these really cool, shaped leaves, and then it’ll produce these white, fragrant flowers.”

Another favorite of hers is Dracaena arborea. Three of them are in the middle planter on the west side.

“They’ll have all sorts of loose, spindly branches and be very sculptural. I hope that in my lifetime I can see them start to adopt this structure,” she said. “I chose those who thought 100 years in advance.”

The building is also designed to last. All of the redwood and most of the steel frame needed to be replaced after years of wear and tear. The new redwood has a protective coating and the steel is covered in marine grade epoxy.

“We hope it lasts another 100 years,” said Edgar Lozano, the city’s chief civil engineer.

The old building had continuous wooden strips on the sides of both wings. Now there are arched windows all around the building.

“In the 1950s there was a major renovation in which virtually all of the window arcades, including the doors, were removed and replaced with wooden grilles that extend to the end,” Lozano said. “Our job was to restore the original 1915 design.”

Sterman also likes the addition of a new spray system, particularly important for tropical plants.

“When the fog system is on and you’re in here, it’s the coolest thing,” she said. “It looks like Jurassic Park.”

The botanical building is Open until 7 p.m. on Friday and on Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. From Monday it will be open every day except public holidays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m