Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens

The tall iron gates lead into this garden which is designed as a typical English garden with the exception of utilizing all native plants to the Acadian forest. The plants are pruned to conform to the symmetrical aspects of the traditional English garden style. Ten foot brick walls surround the garden on the West and South side creating a microclimate that provides an early spring to visitors. This garden complements the formal Georgian-style architecture of the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre with the picturesque landscape of the Acadian Forest Region.[17] Visitors can sit around a sandstone fountain pool in the centre of the garden while enjoying the encompassing native high-bush blueberry plants. In the spring the serviceberry shrubs bloom when the shad fish run. Harriet Irving's favorite flower can be seen in bloom in late April in the bordering flower beds.

After passing through the walled garden, visitors can view the experimental gardens from the west pavilion. There are several sunken plant beds with eight different representative soil types which host many research projects. This garden allows for plants to be kept on a long term basis and be exposed to the seasonal changes of the Maritime climate. Plants are stored here before being planted into the gardens, or utilized is research and conservation projects. Access is restricted to the public, however they are welcome to peak in at the ongoing research conducted in this area.[18]

In this area a collection of plants used by indigenous peoples and early European settlers can be viewed. This is the only area of the garden which displays non-indigenous species to the Acadian Forest Region. However, many of these plants escaped early homesteads and have become naturalized in the region. A white cedar hedge surrounds the garden, and two rows of linden trees create a pleached hedge along the pathway. Interpretive signs are displayed throughout the garden explaining the early uses of the medicinal and food plants displayed.[19]

The deciduous woodlands are characterized by broad-leaved hardwood trees and associated shade-tolerant plants. The soil is rich in organic matter and neutral in pH. Ferns are predominant in the understory and the ostrich fern can be found providing fiddle heads in the spring. Deciduous woodlands are home to a variety of insects and fauna.[20]

An artificial bog has been created to demonstrate a mossy, peat-covered wetland. Plants such as the Pitcher plant, can be witnessed growing in this area of the HIBG. Plants that thrive in bogs are adapted to nutrient poor, acidic soil. "Other plants include bog laurel, leatherleaf, white-fringed orchid, rose pogonia, grass-pink, bog huckleberry, dragon’s-mouth, as well as bunchberry, goldthread, starflowers, reindeer moss, beak-rush, liverwort, bulrush, lichens, chokecherry, sedges and cottongrass".[21]

In this area of the garden, visitors can admire a man-made pond which is host to many of the native species of plants including cattails, water-lilies, and arrowheads. Freshwater Inland Marshes are important ecosystems for water fowl. If lucky, visitors may see a pair of migratory mallard ducks who come to the pond each spring.[22]

Across from the freshwater inland marsh, are the coastal headlands which represent one of the most unique habitats of the Acadian Forest Region, and are in danger of disappearing due to the development of coastal areas. Plants growing in this area have little to no soil, and are exposed to salt spray from the Atlantic Ocean.[23] From the oval lawn which divides the coastal headlands and freshwater inland marsh, an herbaceous bank can be admired which is decorated with native plants that provide colorful blossoms through the spring, summer and fall seasons. These plants are a great representation of plants that can be integrated into home gardens to provide native pollinators a good source of nectar and habitat. Examples of such plants include Turtlehead (Chelone glabra), Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum), and Brown Eyed-Susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

This habitat consists of both coniferous and deciduous trees, and defines the Acadian Forest Region.[24]

An alkaline, gypsum-based soil characterizes this habitat and are often lush in growth with many native orchids to the Acadian Forest Region.[25]

A wide variety of plants and animals call areas with high water tables home. This forest is associated with the later succession stages of marshes and have been drastically reduced in the Acadian Forest Region due to development and urbanization of forested areas.[26]

This habitat was created by receding glaciers during the last Ice Age and includes stretches of windblown sand and silt deposits. It is dominated by low shrub species, and a few stunted tree species.[27]

The final habitat demonstrated at the HIBG is composed of needle-bearing trees. Coniferous woodlands are dark due to the dense canopy. This habitat is home to many mushrooms and other important decomposers in the food chain.[28]