project

Accessible Plaza and Contemplative Garden

location

Toronto

client

St Cuthberts Anglican Church

Installed

2022

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Project Team:

• Landscape contractor: Allweather Landscaping

• Stonework: Menno Bram

• Interpretive signage: Philip Novak of Strange Colour

St. Cuthberts Anglican in North Toronto decided to transform its surrounding land into a public amenity. A mix of native forest species create a small, immersive contemplative garden for the church and its surrounding community. The gardens celebrate the complexity of the natural world using plants as markers of the seasons.

Enhancing the experience is the addition of interpretive signage that explores themes of spirituality and reflection, inviting visitors to deepen their understanding of the natural world and its spiritual significance.

A vital aspect of the project’s success was how the engaged St. Cuthberts community volunteered many hours to bring the project to life.

Testimonial

“I can’t say enough good about Amy Turner.  We hired her as our Landscape Architect to design and oversee our Bayview Garden project at St. Cuthbert’s, Leaside (Anglican Church) in Toronto.  She began by convening several sessions with our members to discern what they wanted to see in the project, synthesized over 100 inputs from people into a project concept, then ‘brought’ the whole excellent project team with her (the stone mason, the landscape contractor, the graphic signage team, etc.) and, finally, oversaw the project from beginning to end working seamlessly and comfortably with our management team and all volunteers and members.  A truly great talent!  We were so fortunate to have her.

The end result, as envisioned by our members and conceptualized by Amy is a quiet, peaceful, restful garden that provides comfortable outdoor amenity space for our broader community as well as a new identity and welcoming entrance to our church on Bayview Avenue that reintroduces us to all who pass by.

 More than we could have hoped for. Thank you, Amy.” 

 Ian Beverley, Bayview Garden Chair