Fanshawe Gardens Expand in Fall 2009

The gardens of Fanshawe College expanded at a rapid pace in the fall of 2009 with projects taking place both at the London Campus and at the A.M (Mac) Cuddy Garden in Strathroy.

Second-year Horticulture students prepare for tree-climbing during their Arboriculture class at the A.M. (Mac) Cuddy Garden, Strathroy.

Several major student projects took place on the London Campus, with an estimated total value of $150,000. Landscaping for the new Residence was installed by second-year Horticulture students over a period of eight weeks. The new landscape involved expanding the existing collection of plants on campus as a student and community resource. To date the London campus has over 2,500 different species or cultivars of landscape plants. All trees and shrubs planted at the new Residence are new to the London campus and include many rare and interesting specimens.

Installation of landscaping at the new London campus Residence.

Work also continued on other aspects of the London campus gardens with a major donation of very rare conifers added to the conifer garden between H and K Buildings.

Two major construction projects occurred in the second-year Landscape Construction class: the continuation of the retaining wall along the back side of B-building and new wide paths on the east side of M-Building and the east side of N-building.

Installation of the new walkway on the east side of M-Building during the landscape construction class.

In the A.M (Mac) Cuddy Garden in Strathroy, garden renovation continues with the replacement of the wood fence built by Horticulture diploma and apprenticeship students and improvements to plant collections and garden resources. Look for the Open Garden event during the first weekend in June for your opportunity to see this wonderful resource.

As part of Fanshawe's commitment as a botanical garden through Botanic Gardens Conservation International, we are vigorously documenting and labeling our plant collections, a task we expect to take several years. In 2010 we expect to have in place BG Base, a botanical software management program to assist us in this goal. With over 5,000 different species of plants and some 250,000 individual plants, the collection is one of the largest in Ontario. It includes many endangered and rare species, including several species native to Ontario.

Summer gardening team on a visit to a Niagara area garden.

Through the summer months Fanshawe employs eight students from the Horticulture program to maintain the gardens and campus grounds. They are assisted by our two technicians and faculty. All of the work performed by students in the Horticulture programs would not occur without the assistance of our partners, the staff from Facilities, Planning and Development to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude in supporting our students' learning with real, meaningful projects that place Fanshawe as a leader in horticulture education.