Focus on Beautiful Flowers Made Assiniboine Park Fantastic Choice

In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 19 of 52

Dear Reader,

Dr. Preeti Singh from Dancing Elephants Press provided a writing prompt where writers could choose to write about when flowers bloom and fill life with positivity and joy. Further, she stated in her article that writers could write a story about flowers that brings them positivity and joy.

I chose Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba to write about. If you have not been there and you are ever in that area you should do yourself a favor and check it out. You will be overjoyed with the beauty of the place.

Introduction

Many years ago, when I was in the military and my family and I were stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base in Grand Forks, North Dakota we took several trips to Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

This beautiful location is along the Assiniboine River. The park opened in 1909. It is named for the Assiniboine people. The park covers 1,100 acres of which 400 acres are designed in the English landscape style.

The Assiniboine people are First Nations/Native American people from the Northern Great Plains of North America. Today, they are centered in Saskatchewan. They also populate parts of Alberta and southwestern Manitoba in Canada, and northern Montana and western North Dakota.

The park includes the Assiniboine Forest (700 acres), the Assiniboine Park Zoo, Assiniboine Park Conservatory, the historic Assiniboine Park Pavilion, formal and informal gardens, a sculpture garden, a miniature railway, an outdoor theater for performing arts, and numerous other attractions.

The Assiniboine Park Zoo

A favorite for children, the Assiniboine zoo is 90 acres at the western end of the park just north of the main parking area. It is home to over 300 animal species. It opened in 1908.

We would take our trips there during the summer when the flowers were in full bloom. This was a wonderful place to get away too. We loved it there. The long and cold winters at Grand Forks can leave you wanting to see the beauty of the Assiniboine Forest and gardens.

Conservatory and Botanical Garden

One of the earliest park features and a major indoor attraction was found in the conservatory that houses a botanical garden. This garden has more than 8,000 flowers, plants, and trees that are not native to Manitoba.

This menagerie grows under the ideal conditions created in the Palm House and Display Garden. It left us all speechless and very appreciative of all that beauty and the work required to make it happen.

We would have a picnic on the grounds and then go to the zoo to see the animals. Our children were very young then, so the zoo was a special treat for them. We also watched as people played polo. It was fun to watch the horses run up and down the field.

Conservatory Closure

In 2018 the Assiniboine Park Conservatory was closed and torn down because it had reached the end of its useful life. The use of the space that was being used for the Conservatory has not been determined. I am certain that this was both a real shock and disappointment for the Canadians and visitors.

English Garden

Known throughout North America for its luxuriant display of thousands of annual and perennial flowers, the English Garden contains 3 acres of flowers, shrubs, and trees. From its beginning (1926 and 1927) the English Garden was designed to serve as a popular park attraction where residents and tourists could get information about specialized floriculture in Manitoba.

New plant varieties have been introduced every year. A large rose garden (more than 400 bushes) is broken into four sections that surround a central, fish-filled lily pond. The English Garden is open and free of charge to the public every day of the year.

The Formal Garden is located at the southeast park entrance. It features flower beds in defined geometric shapes that stand out from the grassy areas around the garden.

Sculpture Garden

The sculpture garden has hundreds of works by Dr. Leo Moi. He was from Polonne, Ukraine and he studied at the Leningrad Academy of Arts, Kunst Academy in Berlin, Germany, and the Academy of Arts in the Hague, Netherlands.

He made his home in Winnipeg in 1948 and passed away in 2009. He used the lost wax method to sculpt. He donated many of his masterpieces to the city. His donation included bronze and ceramic sculptures, paintings, and drawings. The sculpture garden has been expanded several times since its opening in 1992. Assiniboine Park — Wikipedia

A recent update at the Assiniboine is the Leaf. This is an indoor horticultural attraction with four distinct biomes. A tropical biome, a Mediterranean biome, Babs Asper Display House, and the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden. This is a stunning showcase of diversity, expressed through plants that shape lives in Canada and around the world.

I understand how flowers can lighten your steps and put a full measure of sunshine in your heart and life. That is the reason that wherever I call home has so many different and beautiful flowers, bushes, and trees. I enjoy going to other places too that display flowers in beds outside and vases indoors.

I would like to thank Dr. Pretti Singh from Dancing Elephants Press for this outstanding writing prompt. It was fun thinking and reliving a distant memory and anytime I can see and write about the beauty of nature is a fun and enjoyable experience.

I would like to recognize Lisa Precious / Smiley Blue for her article Betray Me/Betray All. In this article, she provides what it means to be betrayed and how to overcome it. This is a very informative article and is very well written.

I would also like to recognize Sanghita Pal for the article The Ancient Town with Gentle Giants Carved In Stone. This article provides interesting carvings in stone and provides an interesting back story for them. This is a good place to learn something about the locations of these items.

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