Josiah Navratil - The Botanical Gardens of Silver Springs

A bee buzzes beside a polemonium caeruleum (Jacob's Ladder) at the Oval Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024. The Oval Garden is one of the first gardens in BGSS, made in 2007 with the help of Parks Calgary.

Behind the Crowchild trail sound barrier wall near the exit to Silver Springs Gate lives a community garden that has survived and thrived during water restrictions, since June 5, thanks to the tireless efforts of volunteers. Last year alone, 60 volunteers contributed over 10,000 hours to the garden.

“When I heard got the notification on my phone that we were in water restrictions, I texted the gardeners to immediately shut off the irrigation system,” said Brain Cumming, head of the operations committee at The Botanical Gardens of Silver Springs (BGSS).

Three IBCs filled with water from a bulk water filling station in Foothills County sit on a trailer on Thursday, June 20 2024. Cumming expects them to last for six days.

There were already three 1000 litre intermediate bulk containers (IBC) on site, with two currently being used to collect rainwater. Using the extensive connections of volunteers, two more 1000 litre IBCs were collected for use during the water shortage.

Karen Ellard has been volunteering with the garden for 12 years and was offered the two IBCs from her brother-in-law for the restrictions.

“My brother-in-law lives in High River and contacted me and said: ‘Do you guys need a couple of cubes?' "said Ellard.

“So, the volunteers, the guys went up to High River, hitched them up (to a trailer) and brought them back.”

Tom Mayhew (left) and Brian Cumming hold a bucket of water drained from an IBC on Thursday, June 20 2024. Cumming is the head of the operations committee and both men drove up to High River and Foothills County to retrieve and fill the IBCs.

The IBCs were filled up with non-potable water from a bulk water fill station in Foothills County. It only cost five dollars for 1000 litres and the volunteers filled the IBCs using a firehose borrowed from a local golf course.

After June 21, the IBCs were filled from the West Baker Park boat launch.

The firehose that was used to fill up the IBCs in a storage shed on Thursday, June 20 2024.

HISTORY OF BGSS

This is indicative of the community strength that has been prevailing in the gardens since its founding in 2006, which saw a small 400 square feet ornamental garden planted in the BirthPlace Forest tree beds from 2002.

In 2007, two gardens were formed with the Oval Garden, a 3200 square feet ornamental garden made with the collaboration of Parks Calgary, and Wall Garden, formed by Silver Springs resident William Morf when he decided to develop 100 feet of garden on the noise barrier backing his property. Both gardens are still around today, and the Wall Garden has grown considerably to 1300 feet.

Paeonia officinalis (Cottage Peony) in the Oval Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

Linum perenne (Blue flax) in the Oval Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

A bee buzzes beside a polemonium caeruleum (Jacob's Ladder) at the Oval Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024. The Oval Garden is one of the first gardens in BGSS, made in 2007 with the help of Parks Calgary.

Paeonia tenuifolia (Fern Leaf Peony) in the Oval Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

Aster alpinus (Alpine aster) in the Wall Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

Centaurea montana (Mountain Bluet) at the Wall Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

Bistorta officinalis Delarbre (Common Bistort) at the Wall Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

Crataegus laevigata Poir (English hawthorn) at the Wall Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

Currently, there are over 20 gardens at BGSS stretching over 1.5 km supporting a variety of different perennials, roses, and different plants. The pride of the gardens is the over 200 variations of roses spread throughout the gardens and featured prominently in the Rose Bowl. Many of the plants in BGSS are available in their database.

Rosa rugosa (Purple Pavement Rose) at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, June 26 2024.

Allium giganteum Regel (Giant onion) in the Rose Bowl on Thursday, June 20 2024.

However, there is a garden that requires no water and was developed with a knowledge of water shortage back in a timeframe between 2006 and 2008. The LOH2O Garden is comprised of plants that thrive in dry conditions, although there are no cactus plants in the garden.

“So those are largely our native plants, desert plants, other kinds of plants that have been developed from those kinds of plants,” said Bergman.

“It is just plants that have developed ways to deal with just about every condition there is on earth. And so that's a gathering of the plants that thrive both in zone three, and in a low water environment.”

Lupinus argenteus Pursh (Silvery lupine) at the LOH2O Garden on Thursday, June 20 2024.

Heuchera sanguinea Engelm (Coral Bells) at the LOH2O Garden on Wednesday, June 26 2024.

Every garden has a lead gardener that is very knowledgeable about the plants in their specific garden, sometimes giving talks and tours to the public. However, many of the volunteers, not just the lead gardeners, have extensive knowledge of the plants due to completing the Master Gardener Course offered by the Calgary Horticultural Society.

“The education level, whether self-educated, self-trained, or externally, is going up and up so I can say that if you have a gardening question, ... ask anybody in the garden, ... lead gardener or helpers, you're going get an answer,” said Bergman.

“If they don't know, they'll go talk to somebody else.”

The course isn’t a requirement to join as anyone is welcome to volunteer.

Paeonia peregrina Mill (Scarlet peony) at the Peony Garden on Wednesday, June 26 2024. According to Bergman, the peonies are in full bloom this summer.

Although they are often spread out around the different gardens there are still many opportunities for the volunteers to gather as a group.

“Every Thursday and every Saturday we do coffee,” said Ellard.

“We have a stampede barbecue (and Christmas party) for the volunteers. You got to recognize the people that help.”

From left to right: Rachel Dunlop, Roxanne Rossiter, Karen Ellard and Marilyn Turner smile in the Shade Garden on Wednesday, June 26 2024. Ellard has been involved with BGSS for 12 years and Turner is the current lead gardener for the LOH2O Garden.

As president of BGSS, Bergman has a unique perspective on her team.

“So as a corollary of that people could come in as volunteers recognize the quality of the crew, quality of the relationships, the collaboration, the camaraderie, that this is a nurturing community most of the time, and it is a community of strong-willed people who don't always agree on things all the time,” said Bergman.

“But we get rounded (by each other). One of the big things particularly for seniors in the world, is loneliness. This takes away the loneliness because you now have another wonderful community to be part of.”

Shakespeare Garden

There are only a few Shakespearean gardens throughout Canada and Calgary is very fortunate to have one within BGSS. The garden was inspired by Dom Saliani, a Silver Springs resident and Shakespeare expert. His friend Laurel Caddell built the garden in the early 2010s.

“It was built in collaboration around quotes from various Shakespeare because he uses plants a lot in his writing,” said Bergman.

“If you walk the garden ..., you notice many of the quotes are there and the plants that he's highlighted in the quotes are planted right there.”

A sign in the Shakespeare Garden on Wednesday, June 26 2024. This Shakespeare garden is one of the few in Canada.

Labyrinth

BGSS is also home to one of Calgary’s few labyrinths and the biggest outdoor labyrinth in Canada . According to BGSS founder Duncan Badger, the labyrinth was inspired by the labyrinth of Chartres cathedral in France. It took over two years to complete as one year was used to kill off the grass and the other was used to layout the 9000 bricks and plant 700 plugs to establish the growth of the wild thyme. Every spring is when the thyme blooms and the labyrinth is at its best.

The labyrinth on Wednesday, June 26 2024. It took two years and 9000 bricks to create the largest outdoor labyrinth in Canada.

Wild thyme growing in the labyrinth on Thursday, June 26 2024.