To celebrate The Morton Arboretum's 100th anniversary, they needed a sustainable, attractive and long lasting product for their Centennial Garden and Plaza. The sky is the backdrop for the hot-dip galvanized steel and will hold the vines that grow up around it for generations.

The Morton Arboretum was founded in 1922 by Joy Morton, who started the Morton Salt Company. Joy's father founded Arbor Day. To commemorate their 100th year, they wanted to have something special and lasting that would fit the mission of the arboretum. Their mission is to collect and grow trees from around the world, display them in beautiful landscapes for people to study and enjoy. The Centennial Plaza & Garden was created to honor and expand on that mission.

Per the arboretum's project manager, Susan Jacobson, they chose hot-dip galvanizing for the long term durability of the garden structures. Creatively hidden lights and vines that go around and through the portico will create a canopy of greenery within the steel. With the light gray color of the hot-dip galvanized steel overhead, it will complement the Midwestern sky as a backdrop.

As the greenery grows, the hot-dip galvanized structures will be in place for several decades needing no maintenance and leaving the plantings undisturbed. The zinc in the galvanizing process is an abundant element, essential to human health. The Morton Arboretum's choice of using hot dip-galvanized steel in a place dedicated to trees and nature to celebrate their 100th anniversary should inspire others to use this as a creative, corrosion protection option.