Plants return to the batter’s eye

On Monday, the Twins announced that the “Living Wall” was completed at Target Field. Made up of over 5,700 juniper plants, the wall will make an interesting backdrop in the stadium.

If you’re like me, you’re pretty unfamiliar with sea green juniper plants. Apparently, they’re just shrubs. Where did they get 5,700 of them? I guess the organization has enough money to say “we would like 5,700 sea green juniper plants,” and then have them installed immediately. Another question, are balls going to get lost in the shrubs like they do in the ivy at Wrigley Field? I imagine that it wouldn’t matter as much in this case, because the shrubs will be out of play and balls hit into them would be ruled a home run anyway.

I’m interested to see just how many balls end up there. Would the grounds crew have to get them out, or would they just stay there forever? I really like the idea of dozens of baseballs becoming nested in the plants for several years and then someone finding them all. Maybe when Jose Canseco and the aliens descend on Target Field in 3,000 years, they’ll find a bunch of baseballs in the shrubs. That would be a GREAT science fiction novel.