For more than a century, a quiet corner of the Central Experimental Farm has held the promise of something bigger. Tucked behind the Dominion Arboretum, past trails lined with wildflowers and trees that have seen generations, is a 34-acre site that has been earmarked to become Canada’s National botanical garden. But the idea is still waiting to take root.
Talk of a botanical garden dates back to the late 1880s when the Central Experimental Farm was created. A portion of the land was slated to be used for the Dominion Arboretum and another section for the botanical oasis.
Over the years, there have been various attempts by the federal government and other groups to start construction. But in the 1980s, it was announced that if a botanical garden was ever to be built, it would need to be by a third party. A sign promoting the greenspace was then taken down.
Shortly after, the Ottawa Botanic Garden Society decided they wanted to resurrect the project and came up with a business plan which was tabled in 2011 called Canadensis. A decade and a half later, no movement has occurred.
“Great ideas take a little bit longer, but this is getting to be a little ridiculous. It is hard to understand because it’s always been a desire to create a botanical garden. We are the only G20 country that does not have a botanical garden in their capital city,” said Gérald Lajeunesse, who is chair of the Canadensis board of directors. “That is unacceptable because there is a lot to celebrate. Ottawa has a large history of horticulture, agriculture, and botanic culture. We see this as an opportunity to showcase all of these achievements on the world stage by having a botanical garden.”
The latin word Canadensis means “of Canada” or “from Canada,” and is a term used in taxonomy, particularly in biology, to denote that a species is either native to or strongly associated with the northern country.
The botanical garden, as Lajeunesse sees it, would be focussed on Canadian species, native species, species that survive and thrive in the Canadian environment. Plans propose a visitors centre, lookout, amphitheatre and an elevated, treetop boardwalk.
Canadensis was last told by the National Capital Commission to break the project up in phases of 10 acres each. A foundation has given the group a large donation to start the front-end work, including a major capital campaign, but that can’t start until a better lease is secured.
After ground can be broken on Phase 1, it would take three to five years to complete.
“The difficult part of it, and I come back to why we can’t move until we have a long-term lease, is because there’s a lot of hidden development infrastructure work that has to be done like sewer, water, power, everything that gets hidden underground,” said Lajeunesse. “Those are all very expensive costs you can’t start investing in if you don’t at least have a guarantee for the land.”
Despite the delays, some programming is offered on 10-12 acres of the 34-acre site. Year-to-year leases mean any work on the land needs to be removable, so walking paths are regularly mowed instead of permanent. There are also a variety of art installations.
Every fall, Canadensis hosts its biggest event, a fall fair, which teaches the importance of botanical gardens. But this year it will most likely need to be cancelled due to construction work on the barn which has been delayed.
The growing importance of botanical gardens
The world is currently in a climate crisis with weather patterns severely changing. Last year will go down as the warmest year on record with a wide margin of 1.18 C above the 20th-century average. The Earth’s temperature has risen significantly, with an average increase of about 1.1C since 1880, and the warming rate has more than doubled since 1981.
Lajeunesse said that means Canadians need to adapt, and botany plays an important role in research and climate change adaptation.
“The research component of the botanical garden would be focussed on how to fight climate change,” he said. “But the other component is education and that is equally important.”
Canadensis has recently been educating on the dangers of the dog-strangling vine – also known as vincetoxicum rossicum which is a flowering plant in the Apocynaceae family. The perennial herb is native to southern Europe and is a highly invasive plant growing in all of the Eastern United States, in the mid west, and southern Ontario and Quebec.
The botanical garden also started a native tree nursery where people can donate saplings of their unwanted Maples or oaks. Last year two dozen native trees were planted on the Experimental Farm site in partnership with Mādahòkì Farm as part of the site’s future windbreak. Twelve native conifers were also planted at the Hunt Club area farm.
“We are very interested in working with the First Nations community,” said Lajeunesse.
Botanical Gardens have also evolved from places that were once “look at me don’t touch,” noted Lajeunesse, who said they are now very interactive spaces.
Lajeunesse, who used to work as head of Landscape Architecture and Ururban Design at the National Capital Commission, said he’s hopeful a renewed interest in the century and a half-old project will mean work can soon finally start.
“Interestingly, Canadian botanical gardens belong to the American Public Garden Association because there isn’t one in Canada. Maybe the time has come to build on this nationhood and pride that we have now since our neighbours to the South have decided to be nasty,” said Lajeunesse. “Maybe we should be relying a lot on our own accomplishments and celebrating those accomplishments to put us front and centre.”
