Even more cool gardens to check out

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/08/2015 (3881 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This is the second instalment about the 2015 Cool Gardens currently hanging out in the heart of our city.

Visiting these temporary installations can totally fit your schedule. Planning to attend one of the many fests or markets in the downtown, Forks, or Esplanade Riel area? Stop by to rest and cool off in one of the Cool Gardens. Or, if you’re a garden or art enthusiast, plan for a half or whole day, depending on your pace, of Cool Garden pleasure.

The gardens are within about a kilometre span between the east side of the Esplanade Riel and a block west of the Union Station down Broadway. Walk it, cycle it, enjoy it because these gardens are fun.

I’m going to give a brief description of three gardens in this column, but you’ll definitely want to visit all eight before they close at the end of September.

LASA Mentored Garden by Alyssa Lambkin-Anderson + Ian Cheung + Julieta Cohen + Rob Freeman is set in our new Upper Fort Garry Provincial Park. Access to this Cool Garden is off Main Street, as the park is not yet open to the public. Totally apropos for the site — the garden is a visual representation of a fort and its outposts. While the bright cool colours atop the raw timber logs assemble themselves mostly by colour, there is mixing and mingling giving the garden both interest and cohesion. Oh so Canadian! Climb to the top of the Fort and relax for a bit, and take a sneak preview of the surrounding Upper Fort Garry Provincial Park.

A Landscape Never Happens Twice, by Balmori Associates Inc. placed second in the competition. Just follow its bright cheerful yellows to the east end of Esplanade Riel. Upon arrival, follow the yellows as they skip across the walkways, steps, and ramps transforming into rows of flowers and tiny flags as they go. Where does hardscape end and softscape begin? This garden acknowledges the changing nature of all gardens and landscapes so plan to visit it at least twice.

Cool Dot, by Ewa Tarsia, is a returning garden and is located in front of Inn at The Forks. Perfect circles always exude fun and playfulness. But when they pop out of the turf itself? Do we lean on them, climb them, or imagine them as complete little green worlds? 

   
For a map and other info, visit coolgardens.ca

Carla Keast has a master’s degree in landscape architecture and is a Winnipeg-based freelance landscape designer. She can be reached at contact@carlakeast.com.