The city’s eco-sculpture collection has grown by a baker’s dozen.
Thirteen new owls have been planted in Central Park, one for each Canadian province and territory to mark Canada’s 150th birthday.
Eco-sculptures are slightly different than the horticultural practice of topiary, which involves planting a tree or shrub into the ground within a metal frame, and then clipping and cutting the foliage into a defined shape.
To build an eco-sculpture, the metal frame is covered with a “filter fabric.”
“It’s like a skin,” says Heather Edwards, the city’s manager of parks planning and design. “What we’re doing is stuffing soil inside the skin, then we do the planting by poking a hole right through the skin.”
Two inches separate each plant plug, and depending on the size of the eco-sculpture, there can be thousands of them. For example, the carousel horse at city hall and the Burnaby Village Museum has around 7,500 plant plugs.
Unlike topiary, eco-sculptures can be moved. About 85 per cent of the city’s collection is mobile, notes Edwards.
She started the eco-sculpture program in 2001 after seeing something similar in Montreal the year before.
“I thought that was so amazing, and so I brought the program here, out west,” says Edwards.
Each year, she puts a callout for volunteers to help plant the annuals, usually at the end of March. (There are close to 70 sculptures in total.)
“It’s super easy to do. Anyone from age five to 95 can do it. It’s a great way to invite the community in and be a part of creating these sculptures,” she says. “What we find is once a group or person has helped plant a sculpture, they’re dragging their parents or anybody they know, and say, ‘Come see what I built.’”
Edwards decided to add the 13 owls as a way to celebrate the country’s birthday. A large maple leaf lays on the grass, with an owl at each of the leaf’s 13 points.
Passersby are encouraged to take a real close look at them.
“You can see maple leafs built into the design (and) we put the provincial acronym,” she says.
To see the owl display, visit Central Park along Kingsway, adjacent to Swangard Stadium.
