Notebook Rockway Botanical Garden at Kitchener
Around the gardens. S
ituated on a 7.5 acres nestled between the Conestoga Parkway, King and
Charles St East and the Rockway Golf course sits a Botanical Garden, Rock- way Gardens. The Gardens are managed by the Kitchener Horticultural Society with financial and other support from the City of Kitchener. In 1928, the Society approached
the City with a proposal that it lease a triangular piece of land between King St and the Grand River Railway (now Charles St) to build a garden. The Soci- ety began the garden and the Janzen family donated 2 fountains in memory of Mr and Mrs H L Janzen. Construc- tion was completed in 1930 and it was named the Janzen Gardens. With the successful completion of this proj- ect, the Society again approached the City suggesting that the Gardens be expanded onto an adjacent piece of land that once was a sewage farm. The City Engineering Department designed the garden layout and then Society Presi- dent, Alderman J Albert Smith was named Project Director. W J Jarman, fellow of the Royal Horticultural Soci- ety, was hired to design the Rockery. It was designed to resemble the Canadian Shield from Newfoundland to British Columbia. Started in 1932, the Rockery was built by relief labour. Two thousand tons of limestone was transported from Sheffield Ontario. Artistic planting and supervision was done by Charles H Janzen who was a leading figure in the development of the Gardens serv- ing in a number of Executive positions including President of the Society and received the society ‘Award of Merit’ and the OHA ‘Silver Medal’ for horti- cultural achievements. Construction was completed in 1933. The gardens were renamed Rockway
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Gardens and the Society obtained a 50 year lease from the City to manage the property. Today, there are 65 garden beds
that include the Rockery, a substantial perennial border, a carpet bed, many formal beds, a main fountain, the Schneider fountain and is managed by one full time Supervisor, 5 sessional full time, some part-time staff and lots of volunteer support. There are several distinct garden
areas. The first is the perennial border that stretches from the east end along the south east side of the Gardens to the garden house. While the plants in the border remain relatively the same from year to year, the look of the border is ever changing. The second distinct area is the Rockery. With a little bit of histo- ry and a little bit of imagination one can actually pick out specific parts of the Canadian Shield. There is the island of Newfoundland in front of the Garden House and about mid-Rockery there is a cascade that brings water from the hill to a pond. In that cascade, there are 5 water pods that symbolize the Great Lakes. A little further along, there is another cascade that has 3 pods and represents Lakes Winnipeg, Great Bear and Great Slave. The Rockery itself contains a mixture of perennials and annuals and the bed that snakes along its base is changed twice a year as are the many formal beds throughout the Gardens. The formal beds contain over 15,000
bulbs (tulips,(100) daffodils and hyacinths) from October through May when they are dug up and replaced by annuals and tender tropicals. One of these beds is a newly constructed Victo- rian garden that
stretches Janzen fountain to the other. from one The Janzen fountains that were the
foundation of the Gardens and were located between King and Charles St were moved to the Gardens proper in 2000/2001. They were disassembled and reconstructed. A few parts had to be reconstructed using parts of the fountain as moulds. The Main fountain has been modified several times chang- ing it from a very formal structure to the more natural one it is today. The Schneider fountain was donated in memory of Mr and Mrs J M Schneider in 1964. Last but not least, there are the
features most of which have been added since 2000. The carpet bed being the only one that was constructed in the early years is used to commemo- rate notable community anniversa- ries. While wedding photos are taken throughout the Gardens, it is the features that really draw. The bridge over the Main Fountain was the first to be built followed in succession by a stone arch, the Dorothy Elliott Gazebo (summer Concert venue), the MADD Pergola and this spring, the Victorian Garden. On one Saturday, there were 15 wedding parties lined up to take photos on the bridge. One gentleman even drove his vintage Mustang onto the grass in front of the Arch to have his photo taken. The Kitchener Horticultural Society
is indeed fortunate to have Rockway Gardens to use as a teaching facility as it allows us to show the community what is possible and how things grow. Rockway Gardens wouldn’t be what it is without the dedication of society members over the past 85 years nor without the financial support of the City of Kitchener, local businesses and industry and community members.
Early Spring 2014 • 5
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