A portion of Calgary's Devonian Gardens will be closed in the coming months while the contractor fixes a problem with leaky planters and new plants from Florida are added.

The downtown tropical oasis reopened three years ago following a major renovation, but leaky planters have been a problem dripping water into stores in The Core shopping centre below.

Parts of Calgary's Devonian Gardens will be closed while leaks are repaired and new plants are added. (Scott Dippel/CBC)

While it was obvious water was leaking, it wasn't easy to determine where and how it was occurring.

"There was some considerable analysis that took place to determine whether if in fact the coating that wasn't working or if it was something else. And that really was what took the most amount of time to figure out," said Doug Marter with Calgary Parks.

Fortunately, the work is covered by warranty, but removing plants and replacing the protective coating in planters may take some time to complete.

New tropical plants coming later this year

Most of the park will remain open to the public during the repairs.

The city is in the final stages of determining the best approach, and when a decision is made it will mean parts of the indoor park are closed, according to Marter.

"It's not inconceivable to think that it could take up to a year as we move from planter to planter because we're still trying to keep the gardens open, or at least portions of it open as we go and reduce the impact on the public," he said.

Some new tropical plants will be coming from Florida later this year to replace those that haven't thrived — but this time, it will be tougher getting them into place, Marter says.

"When we did this the first time, the building itself was under construction so we were able to bring stuff into the building through the building wall," he said.

"That's a little more complicated now that the building is finished and we're having to work with the elevators and stuff and the access we have."