Hume on Toronto Botanical Gardens

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From the Star:

Botanical garden a (green) work in progress
May 8, 2006. 01:00 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME

For some, gardening is a way to rest and relax. For others, it is a race against death and time. In either case, it is an activity that teaches patience.

The Toronto Botanical Garden is no exception. Though construction on the building was finished last winter, the flower beds remain a work in progress. Major features such as the Spiral Mound, the Terrace Wall, and the Knot Garden won't be completed until the end of June. Then, planting will begin.

Even for architect David Sisam, whose firm Montgomery & Sisam designed the new structure, it's a hurry-up-and-wait kind of thing.

Though his building has already won a Green Toronto Award, without the gardens, it looks naked and somewhat uncomfortable.

That's nothing to do with the architecture, which manages deftly to bring together the two original buildings — by Jerome Markson and Ray Moriyama — and knit them seamlessly into a larger whole.

The new facility is light-filled and nicely integrated into its surroundings. Space flows effortlessly from outside to inside. Instinctively, the visitor feels this is what a botanical garden should be.

Given that the major issue of the 21st century is the environment, this is something an institution such as the TBG must address.

The result is a building constructed largely of recycled materials and high-efficiency mechanical equipment. It also has underground cisterns where rainwater can be stored and used to irrigate the gardens.

The most visible gesture to the environment is a green roof, an increasingly popular technique that lowers heat gain and helps control storm water runoff. Sisam also used special fritted glass and sun shading and locally manufactured materials.

"We re-used the stone from the old buildings and even the steel structure," Sisam explains.

"We were determined to design a building that was energy-efficient and sustainable."

According to Sisam, the building will use one-third less energy than a comparable structure built to the National Energy Code.

Even the gardens exhibit this same insistence on environmental awareness. Designed by PMA Landscape Architects with Tom Sparling, Martin Wade and Pete Oudolf, the emphasis is on indigenous plants and natural planting.

But there are also elements that take the standard notion of the garden in new directions. The Terrace Wall, for example, is held together with wire mesh and incorporates soil, recycled stone from the site as well as empty champagne bottles from various receptions held at the TBG. This summer, the wall will be fully planted.

The Spiral Mound, which will be a viewing point and a showcase, is spectacular. Though little more than an earthen pile right now, eventually it will be covered in flowers.

"Planting will be done by mid-July," says TBG executive director Margo Welch. "But typically a garden takes two to three years to reach its full size."

As she also points out, however, seasons vary from year to year, and generally they're growing hotter.

"This year, everything is early," Welch notes.

"And last summer was so extraordinarily hot. It may not be a great time to plant a garden. We may find that plants that can be quite difficult to grow in this zone will start to flourish."

Welch isn't expecting palm trees to appear any time soon, but late last week, rare blue poppies bloomed at the TBG, remarkable in itself, but even more so because they are several weeks ahead of schedule.

The Toronto Botanical Garden doesn't officially open until September but it's up and running. It's located at 777 Lawrence Ave. E. at Leslie St.

AoD

 

[TdotTrickyRicky]

What drove me crazy when I read this is that I had no idea there was a Toronto Botanical Gardens. Then I had to wait till the last sentence of the article to find out where it is. Then I had to look at a map to find out where Leslie and Lawrence is to find out they were talking about Edward gardens.

 

[MrOttawa]

Tdot,

Agreed!

The quality of Star columns is very poor. I have seen spelling mistakes, poor grammer, structure, punctuation etc. Many of the articles are more like a column or editorial with all their opinions.

 

[Archivistower]

To be fair to the Star, when you are on-site, they are referred to as the Toronto Botanical Gardens. It is a bit confusing to be there.

Below are some photos of the two older buildings with the new, really now a single building. The gardens around the building looked like they will be stunning when complete.

 

[interchange42]

I love the new stone exterior walls - that building must have cost a few bucks - and it will be great to visit this later this year.

42

 

[building babel]

Yes, isn't the stone great. A bit Isabel Bader, a bit McKinsey, a bit ... Botanical Gardens.

 

[Archivistower]

I believe the stone exterior walls are not new, actually. The building with the signs on it is Civic Garden Centre I, from 1964, Raymond Moriyama; and the upper bit closer to the new greenish glass is Civic Garden Cente II 1973, by Jerome Markson. There may have been some walls added, but it's hard to tell.

 

[interchange42]

From your pics it all looks impressively well integrated Archivistower. We'll have to take a maginfying glass out for a field trip to determine exactly what's what.

42

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Additional materials from TBC:

Ground Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Landscape/Site Plan

AoD

 

[ganjavih]

I haven't been there since the excavation began... glad to see it turned out well.

 

[Darkstar416]

The quality of Star columns is very poor. I have seen spelling mistakes, poor grammer, structure, punctuation etc. Many of the articles are more like a column or editorial with all their opinions.

This was a "column" by Christopher Hume, hence the editorializing is perfectly fine.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

"Then I had to look at a map to find out where Leslie and Lawrence is to find out they were talking about Edward gardens."

Really, next to Edwards Gardens, although the distinction is somewhat meaningless.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From the Post:

Back to the garden
A freshened-up botanical centre aspires to be a leader in teaching the value of nature

Kelvin Browne, National Post
Published: Saturday, May 20, 2006

Once known as a clubhouse for gen- teel ladies who like flowers, the Toronto Botanical Garden has transformed itself from demure to dynamic. While still a prime source of horticultural education, its broadened mandate now champions the natural landscape and creates a healthy environment in Toronto.

"It's remarkable what our volunteers have accomplished in just a few years," says Toronto Botanical Garden executive director Margo Welch. "The most visible aspects are the renovation to our building -- now called The George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture in recognition of their $1.5-million gift -- and the nearly four acres of new contemporary gardens we're installing around it that will be open this fall."

But it's the not-so-visible part that's even more interesting.

As Welch describes the elegant Dembroski Centre, which was recently voted the leader in Green Design at the Green Toronto Awards, and the new gardens, she's talking about the result of a seismic change in the way we think about gardening.

While there's no question gardening is more popular, it's also more important. It is no longer regarded as effete. Gardening is concerned for our natural environment in an urban context. And few believe environmental issues are fringe issues these days. It's the connection to environmental activism that gives gardening new zip and TBG renewed purpose, if not cachet

TBG began as the Civic Gardens Centre in 1958. Then as now, its building was located at the entrance to Edwards Garden, the 27-acre public gardens near Lawrence and Bayview Avenues. "One reason we changed our name from the Civic Garden Centre in 2003," Welch says, "is because some confused the centre as a department of the city or as a commercial operation."

TBG is a charitable organization that receives minimal financial support from the city. Rather, it depends on members, foundations, corporations and individuals, plus revenue from plant sales and the TBG shop.

It has a volunteer board of directors, a staff of 20 including Welch, 2,300 members and 400 active volunteers. It works closely with 35 Canadian horticultural associations. It's all one big, apparently happy family, with the Toronto Master Gardeners running a horticultural help-line based at TBG and both the Garden Club of Toronto and Milne House Garden Club in the building.

Welch joined TBG three years ago from Ketchum Canada, a fundraising consultancy. Before that, she was director of exhibits and design at the Royal Ontario Museum.

She says, modestly, that when she arrived at the botanical garden "a tremendous amount of work had already been done. The goal to create an internationally recognized botanical garden was in place and lead donors George and Kathy Dembroski were on board, as well as other major contributors, such as the Weston family."

The capital campaign ultimately realized $7.2-million, 80% of it from the private sector. The message that a new TBG would help educate children about nature, drive tourism and preserve native landscapes and habitats was clearly compelling. TBG's mandate states this boldly as "becoming a self-sustaining urban oasis while making Toronto the most horticulturally enlightened city in the world."

After Welch arrived, an architect, David Sisam of Montgomery Sisam Architects, was selected and given direction. "We needed additional space, of course, but we also wanted our building to be more inviting, look like a public facility that has a connection to the landscape, as well as be an environmentally responsible structure," Welch recalls.

Indicative of the centre's enviro-smarts is its 5,000-sq.-ft. glass pavilion topped with an energy-efficient sloping green roof. The 2,400-sq.-ft. roof is planted with four varieties of sedum. It acts as a shallow planter, with the soil and plant roots absorbing pollutants in rainwater.

The new roof also decreases storm-water drainage by 37% (they're very exact about these things) and, once the rainwater is drained into a cistern, it gives an efficient water supply for the site's irrigation. The green roof is an insulator and reduces heat gain around the building because of an urban heat-island effect -- that is, there's less reflected heat off paved or black roofing and this translates to less air-conditioning because of reduced heat gain inside.

The gardens are leading-edge too. The four acres of new botanical space around the building have a residential scale, not acres of parks with monstrous carpet plantings, and are a collection of unique horticultural experiences. It's like walking through outdoor rooms. Unlike the adjacent Edwards Gardens, which has outstanding collections of plants such as rhododendrons and magnolias and annual plantings that are changed several times in a growing season, the botanical gardens showcase design as well as plants.

"The new gardens are a series of relatively small areas with a mix of plants appropriate for our zone that demonstrate a range of gardens in different soil and sun conditions," Welch says. "People can learn from these gardens as well as enjoy them." What she means is we can copy these gardens in our own backyards after we experience them. It's a much better way to learn than trying to emulate a garden that you've seen only in a book or magazine.

Of particular interest is TBG's new kitchen garden. "Every year, the kitchen garden will reflect a different culture and how the plants associated with its cuisine have been adapted to Toronto's climate. This year, we're working with the Japanese community. Next year, the focus is Thailand," Welch says.

As impressive as the new building and gardens are, what gives TBG its wide appeal is its educational programming. While it has long offered myriad courses, from flower arranging to hard core horticulture, the new facilities give room for more education relating to the environment. For instance, children are a key focus and TBG will increase its programs in environmental science by 100% and children's summer camps by 20%.

The gardens are part of the educational initiative. Rather than just showing slides, demonstrations can happen in TBG's own backyard. There's collaborative programming too: Ryerson will give classes at TBG, and TBG will offer programs at George Brown College's downtown campus.

More outreach is in the works. Caring about your local environment could turn you and your neighbours into guerilla gardeners and TBG will likely be the one to show you how to reclaim your street's medians or garden without lawns or wasting water. TBG is even part of a collective movement to create a botanical journey down the Don River. Welch is quick to point out this isn't necessarily "a cultivated one, but rather more about reclaiming the natural habitat."

Welch is a good example of the new influence of TBG. While she jokes she's learned "gardeners can be ruthless, it's tough love in the garden," the revelation is what the love of gardening means now.

"I always had an aesthetic appreciation of gardening. But the more I understand the powerful environmental implications of what we're doing, the more I know how important the Toronto Botanical Garden is to our future."

AoD

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And another by Hume again, from the Star:

Rebuilt to inspire — and it does
Sep. 9, 2006. 01:00 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME

As head gardener, David Leeman, explains, the purpose of the new Toronto Botanical Garden is to inspire.

That it does in spades.

Despite the fact it's brand new — planting didn't start until April — already the TBG seems a fully established feature on the civic landscape. Even before it officially opens next Saturday, it has the feel of having become an indispensable part of Toronto cultural life.

Located at 777 Lawrence Ave. E., in Allan Gardens, the TBG will bring a new dimension to the city, which in truth has no real tradition of public gardens. There's the exquisite Music Garden on Queen's Quay W., and the flowerbeds on the grounds of St. James Cathedral, but like so much of what happens in Toronto, gardening has been strangely internalized; it is something we do behind closed doors.

The TBG likely won't change the increasingly suburbanized culture of this city, but it represents a start. Here is a place dedicated not only to the notion of beauty, but the sharing of beauty.

In other words, the new facility is a supremely civilizing force and, therefore, much needed.

Then there's that "inconvenient truth" about the state of the planet. Gardening may not save the world — what can at this point? — but we need all the green space we can get, especially in a city and country that pay little more than lip-service to the current environmental crisis.

But the idea of a botanical garden goes beyond the merely quixotic; it is a place where people will go to look, learn and enjoy themselves. Classes will be held in situ and demonstration gardens abound. Some highlight indigenous plants, others more exotic species. There is a kitchen garden, herb garden, knot garden, show garden and more.

There are also some memorable elements designed by leading Dutch landscape architect Pet Oudolf, PMA and Tom Sparling, Paul Ehnes and Martin Wade of Toronto. Most notable are the spectacular Spiral Mound, which reaches three metres high and offers a full view of the 1.6-hectare site, and the Terrace Garden, a raised structure, quite architectural in its appearance, that incorporates construction debris (bricks and wood), old champagne bottles and a variety of plants that thrive in arid conditions.

"Every plant we chose reflects our mandate to educate, to highlight the natural habitat and showcase the qualities of different species," explains director of horticulture, Cathie Cox. "They were also selected with an eye to future research and building collections."

The landscapists turned their attention to a series of courtyards, each more elegant than the next. Highlights include a small waterfall made of chainmail, a stand of trees planted at a 45-degree angle, and a row of sculpted hedges contained within metal frames.

The results are very contemporary; entirely appropriate considering that the TBG is a product of the 21st century.

And as executive director, Margot Welch points out, "It's more important than ever for the city that people create green space. Gardening is extremely beneficial for the environment, but people also need to learn to garden responsibly."

Environmentalism is the subtext to the TBG. In addition to the gardens, it can be seen in the new building, brilliantly designed by Montgomery Sisam Architects, that's part of the facility; it has a green roof and is LEED certified. All of which makes TBG appropriate and very timely.

If there really is a cultural renaissance happening in Toronto, it's because of this project as much as any.

AoD

 

[billy corgan19982]

Located at 777 Lawrence Ave. E., in Allan Gardens,

It's Edwards gardens.