Hello there, hi, I’m Tobi Nussbaum, CEO of the National Capital Commission, and
in today’s episode of Capital Stories, we’re going to learn about these amazing
greenhouses that are hosted in Rideau Hall, but serve all of the NCC’s official
residences, and including, of course, Rideau Hall itself, and Rideau Cottage,
and Harrington Lake, and Stornoway, and The Farm. And we know that Rideau Hall,
of course, has been the official residence of Canada’s governors general for
over 150 years.
It is a beautiful, 32-hectare estate in the heart of Ottawa that features
everything from tall evergreens, sugar maples… we have a totem, we have an
inukshuk, there are over 150 trees planted by royalty and foreign dignitaries
from all over the world.
There are, of course, also, greenhouses at Rideau Hall that many people don't
know, and they are both utilitarian and beautiful in terms of the experience
you have by walking through them.
And today, I’m happy to be joined by Kathleen Minkowski, who is our supervisor
of gardens and greenhouses, and Kathleen, you’re very lucky because I would say
you have probably one of the best offices of anyone at the NCC, considering you
call this your office.
So, I’m really intrigued.
Firstly, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how long you’ve been working
at the NCC, and what prompted you to apply to this amazing job?
Absolutely, yeah, for sure.
So, I’ve worked with the NCC for about six years now, and I’ve always kind of
worked in the industry of landscaping and horticulture, working on flower
farms, kind of travelling around the world, and I came to Ottawa about seven,
eight years ago, and I found one of the positions, a contract position back
then, and then everything’s just sort of evolved; and I’ve come to where I am
today, and I feel extremely lucky, because it is an incredible opportunity and
such a unique role here.
Fantastic.
Now, can you help us sort of situate, we’re sitting in a greenhouse… can you
tell us about this greenhouse, and tell us about the other greenhouses that are
all connected and what their functions are?
Absolutely.
So, this is greenhouse number one.
It is our main showhouse.
It was built in 1926, so it’s reaching about 100 years old now.
So, originally, its original intent was to be enjoyed by the occupants of
Rideau Hall, and historically, it was used for cut flowers. There were binaries
on the property, citrus collections, and then all of our other working houses
were used to grow plants and kind of cycle through the plants that were
used, as well as the plants that were used in all of the residences.
Okay, and then there’s adjoining greenhouses as well, right?
Yeah.
And they all have slightly different functions?
They do, yeah.
So, the Palm House is showhouse number two.
It has more tropical plants, if you will, including bananas, cocoa trees,
pineapples, bromeliads, and then we have greenhouse three, four, five, and six.
So, three and four are set at cooler temperatures, five and six are a bit
warmer, and that’s sort of where we take plants to take a break and rest after
being in the showhouses, and it also stores our seasonal plants as well, which
we change out over the course of the year.
Okay, and so different greenhouses are set at different temperatures.
How do you control the temperature of each of the greenhouses?
Yeah, we have a program system called Priva, and so that’s how we moderate the
internal climate in the greenhouses, and that’s monitored by our greenhouse
technicians every day.
And that’s using, I mean… would it be about opening windows or not opening
windows?
There’s not actually heating systems in them, are there?
We do have one here in the basement of the greenhouses, but then, since the
greenhouses are so old, a lot of the ventilation and the windows, they are
operated manually.
Okay, great.
So, I’ve had a chance to look through this greenhouse.
You call it a show greenhouse?
A showhouse.
And I’m always intrigued because there are many flowers and plants that I don’t
have in my own house, or I don’t see around the lands and parks of the NCC.
So, can you tell us a little bit about some of the more unusual varieties, and
if there are any stories behind them?
Maybe I’ll start with, you know, what is your favourite plant in this
greenhouse?
Oh my gosh, there are so many to choose from.
I feel like our orchid display that we have in late winter, early spring is
pretty incredible.
But a plant that is of interest, I think a lot of people may have heard of it,
is our “jade collection” that was donated by Youssef Karsh.
He’s a famous, or was, a famous Ottawa photographer, well known for taking
portraits of Queen Elizabeth as a princess, or Winston Churchill.
And he donated those over 40 years ago, and they’re estimated to be about 150
years old, I would say.
So, we’ve taken care of those, or our greenhouse team has taken care of them
over the years.
But we also have a cymbidium orchid that was left by Adrienne Clarkson.
And over the years, we’ve created about 10 plants from the original.
Oh wow.
And of course, Adrienne Clarkson is known for converting the private backyards
from annuals to all perennials, and creating an extensive peony collection as
well.
And like I mentioned, we have a citrus collection, so we’ve got lemons,
oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, and those would be used by the staff kitchen,
or the kitchen staff in Rideau Hall.
Okay.
So yeah, we have a lot of unique plants here that are taken care of by our
staff.
We’ll propagate them and try and save all of our collections.
And this is, you can tell I’m not a horticulturist by the question I’m about to
ask, but are they all perennials—or are there any annuals in the greenhouse as
well?
We have both.
So, we have all of our core plants that act as the structure.
Our trees are podocarpus, or cypress, and then we’ll have filler plants like
ferns, and we’ll use annuals.
We’ll have azaleas in the spring, hydrangeas, bulbs, chrysanthemums, and then
in the wintertime, we’ll use poinsettias.
Okay, and do we grow our own annuals here out of bulbs and seeds?
We do.
So our bulb and spring show, we start all the bulbs in the fall, and we
overwinter them in our root cellar here.
And then a lot of the annuals that we use in here, or in our planters at
events, or in the cut flower garden, we’ll start from seed and then use them
for all of those purposes.
Oh, isn’t that great?
So, you mentioned that the kitchen staff use some of the fruit that we grow.
You mentioned grapefruit, oranges, and lemons.
Are those the...
And limes as well.
And limes.
Do we have herbs at all?
Absolutely, yeah.
In the wintertime, we’ll have them in the greenhouses so that the kitchen staff
can come out and use them to enjoy in the house.
But we also start all of the herbs and the vegetables in the greenhouses that
are then transplanted out into our vegetable garden.
Now, speaking of vegetable garden, I presume that is mostly a summer activity
and that’s outside?
Yes, it is.
And it’s also part of your responsibilities?
For sure, yeah.
So, like I mentioned, everything is planted out in the spring, which is a huge
ordeal.
May is very busy out there, but our team does a great job.
And they also have a cut flower garden section, which is a big program for our
floral team here.
And all of the herbs and the vegetables and flowers are used inside of all the
official residences.
Great.
Now, we’re here on a beautiful summer day.
What would it be like if we were to be having this conversation in the middle
of February?
What would be different?
Well, first off, with the structure of the greenhouse, since it is about 100
years old, it’s had a lot of wear and tear over the years.
And it is a mostly wooden structure as well.
So, in Ottawa, as you know, we have extreme temperatures, weather conditions,
harsh winters.
So, that’s definitely had an effect on the greenhouse.
But we are very lucky that it’s climate controlled.
So, yes, there is not as much available in the winter in terms of vegetable and
cut flowers, but we have the luxury of being able to grow some of it in the
wintertime.
And we’ll still have our beautiful Christmas display set up in the winter.
So, it’s still able to be enjoyed year-round.
Great.
Now, although these are not open to the public on a regular basis, I believe
there are a few times in the year where the public is invited to explore the
greenhouses.
Is that right?
Absolutely.
So, with Open Doors Ottawa, it’s typically the first week of June and the long
weekends of July, August and September.
So, it’s open to the public then, as well as the backyard gardens.
And those are opportunities for people to come and enjoy all of the hard work
that our team does every day.
And we hope that we’re showcasing Canadian horticulture so that it’s enjoyed by
all Canadians in perpetuity.
That’s wonderful.
And if the governor general is hosting events, are the guests of those events
also able to see the showhouses?
Absolutely.
Yeah, so that’s when we’ll open the private backyard gardens and all of the
showhouses, and they’re able to walk through at their leisure and enjoy all of
the plants.
I’ve seen, I think one of the fairly famous photos, of Jeanne Sauvé and François
Mitterrand, the then President of France, sitting, I don’t know if it was
exactly in these chairs or this table, but there is a photo of them in the
greenhouses.
But are you aware in the time that you’ve worked here… of the greenhouse being
used for that kind of more intimate hosting opportunity?
For sure, yeah.
There’ll be some private dinners that are hosted in here and our team is
definitely involved with the setup for that.
As well as whenever there are major events like Order of Canada, we make sure
that everything is looking beautiful and tidy.
At Christmas time, you know, there’ll be family visiting, and so we’ll have a
beautiful Christmas tree in here, as well as all of the governor generals and
their spouses, their family.
There’s some historic photos of them in here as well.
Fantastic.
Is there anything else that you think people listening to us or watching us
right now would want to know?
Well, I think maybe what some people might not know too, at Rideau Hall, the
public grounds are open for enjoyment.
So there’s a skating rink on-site, weather permitting, and…
I guess lots of trees on the public grounds, right?
That’s true.
Because, I mean, in terms of the landscaping that happens on the public
grounds, that isn’t necessarily your responsibility.
We have other colleagues who are looking after that.
But do you have any role in sort of looking at the planting plan for the public
gardens as well?
For sure, yeah.
So most of the gardens that we work on have already been here historically.
So, a lot of what we do is maintain.
But on the occasion that there is a plant installation, we like to keep
everything in-house.
And so, a lot of my co-workers are very well-versed in designing and they’ll
create a planting plan.
And we have a lot of students in the summertime that will help planting all of
that out.
And then we have our Canadian Heritage Rose Garden as well.
That’s a beautiful feature on the property.
That garden addition started about 26 years ago.
So that’s a beautiful place in the public area for the public to visit.
Fantastic.
Kathleen, thank you.
Thank you for sharing all this.
And I am a little envious that you get to come to work here every day.
But you guys do a wonderful job and [I] really appreciate you chatting with me
today.
Thank you very much.