Assiniboine Park Conservancy Enrichment Garden

By Laverne Dahlin (Lead Master Gardener)

Did you know that the Assiniboine Park Zoo has a secret garden? The garden is not on display for the zoo visitors; only the volunteers and staff know it is there. Established in May 2023 and situated near the Volunteer Centre on the west side of the main entrance to the Assiniboine Park Zoo, the Enrichment Garden is composed of several raised and in-ground beds and has a unique purpose.

Enrichment Garden Beds. Photo: Laverne Dahlin

This garden is the vision of Dr. Chris Enright, Director, Zoological Operations, Animal Management and Conservation. Dr. Enright approached our Volunteer Resources Manager to reach out to the volunteer Master Gardeners at APC to determine if we would be interested in a pilot project to grow plants that animal care professionals could provide as enrichment food for the zoo animals. Enrichment food stimulates the animals’ natural instincts by providing different smells, textures, and opportunities for the animals to forage, explore, and play.

All the plants in this garden – vegetables, herbs, and flowers – are edible.

Six dedicated master gardeners – Igor Kaftan, Diane Daignault, Virginia Stephenson, Cheryl Stoneman, Sharon Moffat, and I – signed up for the project. The team met on May 11^th to lay out the planting and discuss scheduling and procedures. After a halt in volunteering due to the pandemic, resuming work together with fellow master gardeners, zoo staff, and other volunteers to bring this vision to fruition was an ideal return to in-person volunteering.

Master Gardeners (from the back left): Cheryl Stoneman, Sharon Moffat, Laverne Dahlin, Igor Kaftan, Virginia Stephenson, and Diane Daignault

Dr. Enright reviewed scientific and lay literature on healthy food options to grow and decided to start the gardeners with a trial of turnips, beets, squash, borage, mint, basil, thyme, dill, marigolds, calendula, viola, and pansy seeds. The in-house horticulture team selected the best location and three raised beds measuring 4’ x 8’ x 11” and 4’ x 8’ x 17” with a trellis were assembled by volunteer Paul MacKinnon. A logbook was created detailing watering and weeding schedules, and for each gardener to log their activities while at the garden. These logs have been beneficial in evaluating the performance of each bed. A buddy system was implemented to manage changes to the schedule so that there was a daily presence at the garden.

We were eager to get our hands into the dirt, arriving on May 16^th, 2023, equipped with our garden tools and our energy. We followed sustainable gardening practices of no tilling, no herbicides, no pesticides, and composting. It was a very wet and cool start to the season. Then came blistering and unusual heat in early June, which damaged the seedlings and caused germination issues. We were not discouraged and we reseeded in mid-June. With the gardeners’ devoted care, the beds flourished. We established procedures to harvest the bounty for same-day delivery by golf cart to the Animal Nutrition Centre, where the animals’ specialized meals are prepared. All bags were labelled so the Zoo staff could easily identify the contents. Any produce that was damaged before harvesting by wildlife – primarily by hungry Richardson Ground Squirrels – was considered contaminated and went to the compost. We harvested 21 large bags of produce from July to September and were surprised to see the quantity and quality of what was grown in these few raised beds.

Laverne Dahlin and Diane Daignault with harvested produce. Photo: Courtesy of Assinboine Park Conservancy

The animal care professionals were responsible for giving the food to the animals in their care. Recipients included tortoises, turtles, Prevost’s squirrels, bats, iguanas, piping guans, gibbons, monkeys, goats, bison, kinkajou, maras, and polar bears. Because the gardeners were not involved on this end, the staff provided videos and photographs so that we could experience the animals’ responses to the bounty we had grown for them. It was rewarding and comical to see how the animals reacted when they examined, smelled, hid, devoured, and swam with the food.

Mara eating borage. Photo: Courtesy of APC Staff

The photographs and videos were a montage of wonderful scenes: a gibbon clasping a beet to its chest, turning around and covering it from view to hide its treat from prying eyes, a white bison with a large carrot in its mouth with just the greens hanging out, the polar bears slowly swimming in an aromatherapy pool of marigolds, pansies, calendulas and violas, the monkeys dissecting and examining fuzzy blue borage flowers, and the goats pushing their way into the herd to take what they could of pea greens. It was a rare delight to watch a kinkajou’s head pop out of its nest and swiftly snatch up some marigolds, as this nocturnal animal is seldom active in the daytime.

Kinkajou smelling marigold. Photo: Courtesy of APC staff

The photographs and videos, along with positive feedback from Dr. Enright and the zoo, made it obvious that the animals enjoyed and benefited from the introduction of enrichment garden food. We were happy that the pilot project was deemed a remarkable success, and it was decided that the project would continue the following year.

In 2024, following the evaluation of the inaugural year, we recommended adding three in-ground beds to grow squash, beans, corn, lettuce, sunflowers, and zinnias, with one bed dedicated to native plants to attract pollinators. We would then grow more turnips, beets, and carrots in the raised beds to offset the losses caused by the Richardson Ground Squirrels. As a deterrent, whirlies were placed in each bed. We also filled holes at the base of the raised beds and added chicken wire.

On May 5^th, 2024, we returned to attend a planning meeting to design the new beds, and arranged for delivery of compost, garden soil, mulch, and bricks. On May 16^th, we once again returned with our tools in hand, ready to lay out the design, clean up the area, dig up some grass and weeds, remove gravel, and edge the new beds with bricks. On May 19^th, the area was covered with cardboard, watered, and topped with six inches of soil. Pathways were mulched with woodchips. Adjustments were required to keep the soil in the beds that had spilled out following a heavy rain. A trench with rocks had to be added to control water drainage in the front of the building. These were laborious but rewarding days with the beds finally completed and ready to plant. All the beds were planted on May 29^th. New schedules were created, and the established procedures were followed by the same dedicated group of gardeners. The garden was bountiful, and the animals again received plenty of enrichment garden food. However, the Richardson Ground Squirrels continued to cause losses. The whirlies and partial chicken wire repairs did not work!

In 2025, the last raised bed was added, bringing the total to five raised beds and three in-ground gardens. On May 10^th, we once again planted the garden, maintaining the beds throughout the season and gathering another plentiful harvest, even though we still shared more than we wanted with the neighbourhood ground squirrels. After several discussions about this concern, it was decided to remove the soil in the raised beds to fully wire the base of the beds. We have completed one of the five beds and will continue this arduous task in Spring 2026. It is unfortunate we did not think to do this at the outset of the project, but we accepted it as a valuable lesson learned. A meeting will be arranged with a carpenter to brainstorm how to best fence in the raised beds to keep out the ground squirrels while still maintaining easy access for the gardeners to tend and harvest the garden.

Harvested vegetables. Photo: Diane Daignault

The first three years of this project have been a wonderful collaboration between the animal care professionals, the volunteers, and the Animal Nutrition Centre. It is this team’s effort that has made it successful, and we, as the gardeners, are thrilled to know that the fruits of our labour have been enjoyed. We are very pleased with the outcome of this unique and meaningful experience. It was nice to receive positive feedback and to know that the Enrichment Garden is appreciated by both humans and animals alike. It has been rewarding and educational to discuss our experiences with the volunteers and staff who shared their gardening stories with us. Our same group of gardeners is looking forward to returning in 2026, and we are hoping for another fully productive harvest (but please don’t tell the Richardson Ground Squirrels that). 

Title Photo: Squirrel monkey
Photo: Courtesy of Assiniboine Park Conservancy