Services: Grounds Maintenance
If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?
G. K. Chesterton
Garden Highlights
Stop by the Mediaeval Rose Garden in Scollard Park and smell the nearby lemon tree. Enjoy the colourful flower gardens in front of Brennan Hall and the rare hostas in front of PIMS, as well as the wild flower gardens facing Queen’s Park. Benches in the gardens, many donated by alumni, will provide you with an ideal resting spot during your tour.
Future of Green at St. Mike’s
What does Miguel plan for the future? "The gardens are an ever evolving work of art", he says. "I would like to use more indigenous plants in future plans. It would be nice to see people on campus who enjoy the gardens to become more involved. Something like a Friends of the St. Mike's Gardens Society might be an idea. "
St. Mike’s Hidden Botanical Haven
Miguel Reymundo is a man with a passion for gardens. With only seasonal assistance he plans and maintains the gardens at the St. Michael’s campus, a secret oasis in the heart of downtown Toronto. The gardens are enjoyed by staff, students and locals in the know. Over 160 different trees and shrubs as well as 30 city trees are featured, some over 80 years old. Miguel has carefully planned to provide a rich and changing array of colour, scent, form and texture all year round. Willow, Mulberry, European Beech, Ironwood and Silver Maple are some of the wide variety of trees adding to the campus’s ever-changing charm as well as many species of flowers and herbs.
Miguel inherits of generations of work and planning. His predecessor, Mario Pugliese, who was in charge from 1986 until his retirement in 2005, designed and built the rock gardens on the south and west side of Brennan, and across the way beside the former heating plant. He in turn was building on the work of Fr Wilfred Dore C.S.B., who built the original beds to the east of the entrance to Brennan, behind Windle House. Mario returns from retirement periodically to help lighten the workload in the summer. Another Basilian, Fr Robert Scollard, also left a remarkable legacy. He created the small park between St Basil’s Church and the east entrance to Brennan from a sand pit, and the park now bears his name. The mound in the north-east corner marks the original level of the earth in the park, left undisturbed because at the time he began his work, Fr Scollard planted in that place his favorite tree, a Mountain Ash. The tree survived until the 1980’s, and the site is now marked by a Japanese Maple, commemorating the enthusiasm of yet another Basilian priest, Fr H.B. Gardner. Both Fr Scollard and Fr Gardner were librarians at St Michael’s, and the latter played a prominent part in the planning of the Kelly Library as we have it today.
In the 1980’s, the Presidency of Fr James McConica C.S.B. marked another phase in the history of the grounds. An enthusiastic gardener himself, Fr McConica obtained the services of the distinguished landscaping firm, du Toit, Allsopp Hillier to draw up a long-term plan, stressing the village-like character of the St Michael’s grounds enclosing an historic residential development in Windle Place, and including a parish church in St Basil’s. With a personal interest in trees, Fr McConica was responsible for the planting of all of the oaks now on campus, and for the individual selection of all of the trees planted since 1984, including three varieties of crabapple; the Golden Locusts in front of the Library; a mature pin oak, columnar beech and copper beech planted two years ago; the Kwansun cherries; two Serviceberry trees, and the rare Dawn Redwood, a member of the most ancient arboreal family on earth. The teak benches that characterize our grounds also date from that period of planning, allowing some important commemorations as we move forward. Another signature interest of Fr McConica has been the progressive introduction of roses at many locations, culminating in the triangular bed of species roses at the south end of Scollard Park, whose stock was the gift of Dr Arlette Thomas of Ottawa, as were rare irises, peonies and hostas.
Throughout Fr McConica’s term of office, Mario Pugliese established the overall plan that we see today, assisted by Miguel Reymundo, who succeeded him in 2005. The next phase will come as a consequence of the residential development now under way on Bay Street, which will include a civic park running the length of the Bay Street frontage north from St Joseph up to the grounds of the development itself. It is to be hoped that all responsibility for maintenance of that very vulnerable space will be shouldered entirely by the City of Toronto!
