Winter Wanderings In The Gardens

The Canadian Museum of Nature stands downtown a few blocks south of Parliament Hill. It has the look of a castle, and has been here for more than a century, first finding life as the Victoria Memorial Museum, and having a number of uses over time. These days the building houses a natural history collection. This view from the east side includes a life sized mother and baby dinosaur, covered in snow.

Much of the west side of the property is taken up with the Landscapes Of Canada Gardens, featuring plants from four ecosystems along a pathway. I like to document the Gardens in each season, even winter, when the plants are buried beneath the snow. This time my path started by the family of mammoths, sculptures that stand at the Mammoth Steppe. The plants here include ones that would have been present when the animals were at their height.

Up the path from me, on the right of the shot, a dog was up ahead, walking his human.

Signs along the way point out facts and have images of the four ecosystems. Here we have a glimpse of the iceberg sculpture, which features the Arctic Tundra section on its far side. The area on the left is Prairie Grasslands, with its long grasses and plants mostly beneath the snow this time of year.

This view from the sidewalk takes in the museum and the iceberg. Arctic plants have been transplanted into this section, amid rocky sections.

The iceberg, a steel sculpture done by Bill Lishman, actually crosses the path.

The signs for ecosystems continue, both in French and English.

Here we have a straight on look at the museum, beyond the Prairie Grasslands.

The last section is Boreal Forest. This ecosystem dominates a wide swath of Canada, and here we find trees, shrubs, and other plants along the path. The Gardens are a delight in each season, even now when they're covered in snow.