Assiniboine Park sets July opening for outdoor component of Diversity Garden

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This article was published 26/05/2021 (1593 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a troubled construction schedule and a $20-million cost increase, Assiniboine Park is set to open the outdoor garden component of its Diversity Gardens project in early July.

Six gardens with different themes will take up around 30 acres in the southeast corner of the Winnipeg park, surrounding an “indoor horticultural attraction.” While the greenhouse, called the Leaf, will require paid entry upon its completion, the gardens will be open to all parkgoers, starting July 9.

“At a time where we’ve seen such a huge increase in the use of park (space)… it’s sort of been such an important, healthy escape for people during the pandemic,” said Margaret Redmond, president and chief executive officer at Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

“So it’s really nice to give these 30 acres back in beautiful shape.”

Themes include a garden led by an Indigenous design team, in collaboration with local Elders and community members, and a sensory garden that invites visitors to engage with the flora with all their senses.

The $97.8-million project was first set to be completed at the end of 2019, but was delayed to 2021, and delayed again in March of this year. Redmond said the park is hoping for a late 2022 opening at the Leaf, noting COVID-19 had not “done (them) any favours.”

“It’s still an unknown on how it may continue to impact the project, but we’ve done our best to keep it moving in spite of those challenges,” she said.

There are two major milestones to reach to complete construction of the greenhouse: installation of the translucent roof (ongoing) and the planting of the interior gardens. Both need to be completed in warm weather, and the latter can only be completed after the roof is built.

The decision was made to accelerate the construction of the garden space after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed a marked rise in visitors to the park, Redmond said. “Our original hope would have been that they be opened up together, but they didn’t have to be.”

The full Diversity Gardens was originally slated to cost $75 million, but announced a nearly $23-million cost hike in 2019, attributed at the time in part to delays in construction while waiting for government funding. It is being funded through private donations and municipal, provincial and federal funding.

Assiniboine Park has raised around 85 per cent of the funds needed to complete the project, including $35 million federally, $15 million from the province, and $13 million from the city. Redmond said more fundraising announcements would be coming later in the year.

Redmond wasn’t able to say Wednesday how much of the budget was allotted to the garden component.

Horticulturalists have planted more than 36,000 plants in the gardens so far, with another 2,000 set to be added later this year.

“It will be all hands on deck over the coming weeks to get the outdoor gardens at the Leaf ready for the opening in July,” Gerald Dieleman, senior director of horticulture at Assiniboine Park, said in a written release.

“This is just the beginning, and the gardens will be a work in progress. Over the weeks, months and years to come, the gardens will evolve as they mature and change with the seasons, encouraging people to return and relish their beauty over and over again.”

A virtual — or, depending on pandemic restrictions, in-person — celebration of the garden’s opening will be announced at a later date.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

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