Ottawa

Mosaic Canada, exit the grove?

The Mosaic Canada topiary and garden exhibit runs until mid-October. Please get there soon. It is wonderful.

What happens when it closes?

Look closely at the groves of trees planted for the 2017 exhibition:

Notice how the new trees are on gentle mounds. To plant them, a shallow hole was nudged into the sod, the trees were set there, and then the ground mounded up around them. This shallow planting requires continual irrigation (not a problem earlier in this summer…). And water-delivered nutrients. These plants are on life support.

The current plan is that the show ends mid-October. The site has to be returned to the NCC in the same condition as it was found. IE, all the new trees must be removed. I gather some new homes have been found for some. Keep in mind that these trees may be somewhat stressed and a second transplanting will be difficult for them.

I asked around as to why some or all of the trees could not be left in place. I got several answers, all from unauthorized sources.

  • the NCC is used to having a big open space for winterlude, and they won’t vary the layout to accommodate a more treed site
  • the trees are planted too shallow to survive long term, and leaving them actually means digging them up and replanting them
  • the land is unceeded territory and no one knows who to ask / there isn’t time to negotiate for permission before making “permanent” changes to the landscape

And then there is the rumour that Mosaic has been so popular it might return next year, but on a more cost-recovery basis, ie $20 admission. If so, do all the trees come out and then go back in next spring? If the NCC could work around them this winter, could they do that in future years too? Is there a way to leave the trees where they are without replanting them, by maybe raising the ground around them with topsoil?

So many questions, so many speculations.

In the meantime, go see the show now before the backhoes and chainsaws arrive in mid-October.

Below, the picture gives some ideas of the size of the snow mountains created in prior years at Jacques Cartier parc.