The Princes' gates of the Royal National Exhibition Grounds under went a plaza upgrade in 2008. The space was repaved with sleek black stone; the gateway was lovingly restored, and added to the space were 12 granite benches. The granite was gifted from Toronto's sister city in Italy, Milan. Each bench is adorned with the common name, Latin name and beautiful etchings of each provincial tree. If you are in the space with young people, or the young at heart, the plaza would be perfect for a game of educational tag, with the facilitator calling out ‘safe’ trees; leaving the players to chase each other around as they run between, Tamarack of the Northwest Territories and Paper Birch of Saskatchewan.
One extra nod goes out to the team that developed the space; Ontario’s white pine bench is embossed with a crest acknowledging that this site stands on First Nations land.
Wander further into the Exhibition Grounds and you will discover beautiful trees – like one of the last standing mature American Elms in Toronto – interesting architecture and a concrete statue of Pan, the ancient Greek’s nymph god of the forest, tucked away behind Medieval Times.
Across town along the Wellesley St. bike lane I was surprised to catch site of more tree-centric work. In an area known for its rainbows, the planters are adorned with the leaves of native trees. Each planter along Wellesley St. (from Yonge St. to Jarvis St.) has a different grouping of three native leaves. The metal representations are well detailed and great for practicing leaf identification on the go.
If you spot other tree-related art in the city please let us know, especially if it reuses felled local trees. Thanks Toronto tree friends.
Correction: "The Princes' gates of the Royal National Exhibition Grounds" were mistakenly referred to as the "Princess Gates". LEAF apologizes for the error.