The English Garden in Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park
The Boy with the Boot fountain statue in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg
One of the treasured garden landscapes in Manitoba is the English Garden in Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park, or City Park as it is often called.
At the entranceway to the English Garden is The Boy with the Boot, also called The Boy with the Leaky Boot, a water fountain statue situated at edge of a small pool.
Originally, the Boy statue was located in the city’s downtown, forming part of a fountain outside of Winnipeg’s old city hall. One of a dozen or more cast-iron Boy with the Boot statues decorating fountains and parklands around the world, this particular Boy with the Boot was installed in Winnipeg in 1897 as part of the Jubillee Fountain commemorating British Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee. In 1953, with funding support from Rotary International, The Boy with the Boot was relocated to the city’s Assiniboine Park.
On entering the garden, the visitor circles the little pond and heads into the garden along a stone pathway leading towards the central fountain, and from there can tour the garden along a number of intersecting paths. The large beds and sweeping borders in the each of the garden areas feature lovely selections of local and imported plants that bloom or provide colour and interest throughout the growing season.
Trees and plantings in the garden, while laid out in informal English-style, very much reflect a northern garden landscape. Evergreens and cedars, prairie grasses, lilies, plants such as the tall Joe Pye weed, coneflowers, Manitoba-bred shrub roses, and other “show stoppers” delight visitors to this popular garden.
The layout of the garden lets visitors lose sight of one another as they stroll through the grounds, which makes it feel much like a solitary walk through private grounds – even though the gardens attract thousands of visitors during the hot summer months.
Wooden park benches are placed throughout the English Garden. Some are in the open, others are tucked under the fir trees or apple trees, offering places to rest, read a book, or rendezvous with friends.
Besides the English Garden, Assiniboine Park houses the City Zoo, the fabulous Leo Moll Sculpture Garden adjacent to the English Garden, the Children’s Garden with its whimsical “plant musicians” and lovely play areas, the Formal Garden in the park’s southeast corner, a small Conservatory, with its Herb Garden and nearby Ability Garden, and the park’s more recently constructed Butterfly Garden.
City parks everywhere, like Winnipeg’s beautiful Assiniboine Park, are important civic assets founded and maintained through the commitment of generous local citizens and through the farsighted actions taken by civic governments of the day. Such parks are vital legacy gifts for future generations.
Details about the statue are contained in an article by the Manitoba Historical Society published in the Manitoba Pageant, January 1959, Volume 4, Number 2, titled “The Boy with the Boot,” written by Betty Jane Wylie.
Renowned Ukrainian-born artist Leo Mol (Leonid Molodozhanyn) donated many of his sculptures to his Canadian home city in a legacy gift that resulted, in 1992, in the creation of the city’s Leo Mol Sculpture Garden. Many of Leo Mol’s lifetime achievements are noted in a 2002 biography in the Ukrainian Weekly October 13, 2002, No. 41, Vol. LXX
Other biographical details are found in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) tribute to Leo Mol published at the time of his death in 2009, honouring the man and his achievements.
Photo ID: 1309_70 to _83
Photo location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Photos and Text: NK
Copyright: cookiebuxton.com
Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park
My husband and I went to the English Gardens on our honeymoon. It was truly unforgettable. In August everything was at the apex of its beauty and fullness. We went many times after that and it was always lovely and inspiring. These gardens are an important part of my best memories.