CityScene
WALL SPACE
Ten thousand square feet of space is dedicated to three greenhouse zones, with an additional 2,000 square feet for a workshop/gallery space. LED lights can grow plants 24 hours a day. Fans create fog to help keep humidity up, and the temperatures range between 60 to 75°C, depending on what is growing in each zone.
City of Thunder Bay's S Centennial Botanical Conservatory Renewal and Expanding Spaces
Story by Tiffany Jarva, Photos by Jack Barten Sometimes the most magical moments in the conservatory are the smallest moments, like the unexpected blooming of a crown-of-thorns (Euphorbia milii), a lovely succulent plant native to Madagascar.
54
The Walleye
ince 1967, the Lord & Burnham-designed Thunder Bay Centennial Botanical Conservatory has housed— and continues to house—a huge variety of tropical plants and cacti, including a rare cactus collection that boasts 150 species. In addition to being home to about 400 different species of tropical plants, the conservatory also runs a native natural program out of their newly built 12,000-square-foot greenhouse/workshop facility, which
was completed this past summer. It is in this space where all the native plants required for the city’s 150 garden beds—like the ones found at Hillcrest, Vickers, and Chapples—are seeded, grown, and maintained. “I like working here because I get to be involved in so many aspects of horticulture,” says conservatory lead hand and curator Zora Cava. “It’s not just annuals or perennials, native or tropical plants. I also get to be involved in germinating, garden
The conservatory’s cactus collection is very rare and includes 600 different plants, from towering mature rock cacti to six different varieties of agave.
