The Making of The Hidden Life of Trolls Part 3: The Trolls Arrive at Phipps

By Jenna Bodnar, Communications Manager

This summer, a magical exhibit unlike anything we’ve displayed before is coming to Phipps! Summer Flower Show: The Hidden Life of Trolls brings one-of-a-kind trolls inspired by Scandinavian folklore and pop culture into the Conservatory with interactive and animatronic elements. In this three-part blog series (one might call it a troll-ogy), we’re taking you behind the scenes to discover how this larger-than-life exhibit came to be.

After two years of planning and preparing, on April 12, installation finally began for Summer Flower Show: The Hidden Life of Trolls. With some of the largest props ever installed in a seasonal flower show and elements that no one at Phipps had ever experienced before, the facilities and horticulture team knew they had an adventurous three weeks ahead of them.

Week 1: The Calm before the Storm

Installation began in the east wing of the Conservatory, with the East, Victoria and Broderie Rooms. All of the plants and props from Spring Flower Show had to be removed to make way for the new tenants. The East Room was a relatively simple installation, particularly in light of what was to come in the next two weeks. Bjorn the troll had already been planted with dried plant materials collected onsite, and the bell tower and sign were complete too, so everything was simply secured in place after all of the plants took root in the display beds.

Installing Aegir in the Victoria Room was a massive undertaking for the crew of Tolin FX. The planters that house this cantankerous troll’s hair were installed first, followed by a steel frame that would make up the shape of the head. The frame was covered in steel mesh that was designed to support the weight of fiber-reinforced concrete, which was poured and sculpted into the shape of a head and face during the show installation.

With the work on Aegir being done by Tolin FX and no other massive props being installed in this wing, the facilities team helped horticulture where they could. “We called our teams ‘faciliculture’ during this show installation,” says Facilities Manager Pete Thomson.

Behind the scenes, props were still being created up until the day they were installed, including the bridge for the Serpentine Room, which would prove to be one of the most challenging props to install. The facilities team also spent the week brainstorming how some of the larger props would be assembled so they were as prepared as possible for the challenges of week two.

Many of the people on the facilities team had started working at Phipps within the past year and had never completed a show installation of this scale before. “For many of my staff, this was their first real show installation,” Pete says. “The shows last year were much smaller than usual in terms of props, and Spring Flower Show had already been installed the previous year, so we had already worked through all of the challenges associated with that process.”

The new team members were about to be put to the test as week two of the installation began.

Week 2: A Giant among Us

With morale high among facilities and horticulture staff as the second week of show installation began, it was time to overcome the first major challenge: installing the 12-foot-tall troll in the South Conservatory. Before the troll even arrived on the scene, the pond where he takes his bath had to be created. The pond is 30 x 30 feet and 2 feet deep — a size that Pete (who used to install ponds in people’s yards for a living before he came to Phipps) — says would normally be dug out with a machine and take several weeks to install. The facilities team dug it out by hand in two days. “That was a big undertaking,” Pete says. “I’m so proud of my team for what they accomplished.”

After the liner was added to the pond bed, the star of the room made his grand entrance — with his head disassembled in three parts, each of which took four staff members to carry through the Production Greenhouses and into the space. Pete and his team placed padding underneath of him so as not to tear the pond lining with the sharp metal edges of his frame. “The main challenge was to carry those heavy pieces without messing up the work that Mary Lou had done adding cocoa fiber to create his skin,” Pete says. It took 12 people from facilities and horticulture to stand up the giant and secure him in place.

Then, the team removed the plants that line the wall between the South Conservatory and the Tropical Forest so that they could bring the troll’s legs and belly up and over the wall, as they were too large to fit through the door frames. Finally, the troll’s arm that he uses to scratch his back was attached, which Pete says had been a source of concern before the installation, but, “went a lot smoother than we thought it would,” he says.

As four horticulture staff got to work planting the troll’s wild hair and beard, the facilities team added the rocks that surround the pond and built the waterfall that flows into it. The rocks were brought in with a palette jack and then carried by hand from the palette to the display bed.

The Sunken Garden also had to be changed out from Spring to Summer Flower Show during week two, a task which Pete says was much easier in comparison. Tolin FX, who created the huldra figure, installed her in the room and even steamed the wrinkles out of her dress before they finished!

Week 3: We’ll Cross that Bridge When We Get to It

“The last week was the hardest,” Pete says. “We had no idea how that bridge in the Serpentine Room was going in.”

While the wall that separated the room in Summer Flower Show 2019: Van Gogh in Bloom was similar in size, Pete says it was nothing like installing the bridge in The Hidden Life of Trolls. “The Van Gogh bridge was just a frame. This bridge had actual rocks on it, so all of the pieces were absurdly heavy,” he says. “Plus, this bridge has an arch, so all of the pieces had to fit together perfectly. We were given a two-dimensional sketch of it, but no real measurements, so we had to figure those out in real time. It was really challenging, both mentally and physically.”

While the 14 panels that make up the bridge were moved from the Exhibit Staging Center to the front of the campus starting at 1 p.m., Pete knew that they couldn’t install the bridge while Phipps was open to guests, so the work began at 5 p.m. on the evening of April 26. 

Just five facilities staff constructed the massive bridge, which spans the entire width of the room, and the task was a true test of strength. When the arch was installed, for example, staff had to hold the heavy, rock-covered panels overhead while another staff member bolted it together. At 1 a.m., 12 hours after the team began moving the panels from the ESC, the bridge was finally constructed and structurally sound.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my staff. They were awesome,” Pete says.

The rest of the week was spent running irrigation through the bridge to water the plants on it, installing the animatronic characters and installing Leif, the troll in Palm Court. Apparently a bit of a clumsy troll, Leif had a tendency of falling forward when he was first introduced to his new home. “He hadn’t done that in the Production Greenhouse, so we weren’t prepared for that,” Pete says. His team fashioned a last-minute brace for him to keep him standing tall as he emerges from his den.

Fen and Ivy also introduced a challenge Pete hadn’t been expecting — the electronics to operate them were housed in boxes underneath their feet. The planting didn’t account for the boxes and Pete didn’t want them to be visible, so his team had to dig holes in the plant beds, line them with rubber and bury the boxes out of sight. Phipps staff and Visionary Effects (who created Fen, Ivy and Bridget) worked through some glitches in the electronics to make sure everything was fully functional by the time the show opened.

Despite all of the trolls and tribulations of the installation process, Pete says all of the effort was worth it when he watches guests react to the show. “People’s eyes light up when they walk in,” he says. “The excitement is good to see, and it’s nice to see people back here.”

He also says he came away from the experience with massive appreciation for his staff. “My staff did an awesome job and I have the highest level of confidence in them,” he says. “They were so dedicated to making this an amazing show and the finished product reflects that.”

You can appreciate all of the hard work Phipps staff put into this show when you visit The Hidden Life of Trolls! Reserve your tickets now at phipps.conservatory.org/Tickets.

Photos © Phil Johnson II, Paul g. Wiegman and Phipps Staff