Second Site at
VanDusen Botanical Garden So you might think from my photos and and VanDusens website that everything is all peachy keen and peaceful in the gardens. A regular oasis of peace and quiet in the midst of the city. But after spending the better part of 6 days straight sitting and observing I'd say, no way. There's lots of tension and drama unfolding daily. Here's a sampling of last weeks observations.
One day I watched as a falcon lazily glided in circles above the pond for a few minutes then land gracefully in a tall tree. It wasn't landed long when two crows decided that this falcon was an intruder and went after it with tons of spit n fury running it out of the garden.
The garden is about 4 x 4 long city blocks in size with busy city streets as boundarys. On any day you can hear the bustling city surrounding the garden which isn't all that bad. But occasionally, one of those loud little sports cars with resonators on their exhaust system or a high tech motorcycle with custom pipes races around the perimeter obliterating any sense of peace and quiet.
On the last day of my visit, I arrived in the morning to find that my installation had been removed from where it was installed. Uprooted as they say. I sort of went into a high anxiety as I searched around to find them. They were all stacked up on a bench near by. My mind raced with speculation as to why this was done. Did somebody complain? Did some disgruntled visitor take offence and pull them all up? Were they changing the raised bed with out telling me? In the end it turned out that a gardener had removed them thinking that he didn't want to get water on them as they watered the beds with a sprinkler. I was upset because no one consulted me about they how they were handled and pointed out that I had put plastic bags on them to protect them from the rain and how was the sprinkler any different from the rain. So I reinstalled them and told him to just leave them and requested that they not water the beds unless the rain covers were installed.
The biggest drama going on is a
strike by the unionized City of Vancouver workers. All the gardeners at VanDusen are members of CUPE and if they strike the garden closes to the public. Which means that our exhibition will be shut down too. Which is ok by me. I agree with what they are trying to do.
fairnessforcivicworkers.ca for more information.
