Glenhyrst Gardens is a fifteen-acre park/landscape located in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. This property was originally owned by Mr. Edmund Cockshutt and was left to the City of Brantford upon his death in 1956. Cockshutt's wishes were for his property to serve the public as "a place of artistic and cultural pursuits" (Hamilton Halton Brant Regional Tourism Association, 2021). The main attributes of this landscape include remarkable art sculptures and uniquely imported and historic trees, flowers, and plants. A vast majority of the significance of this landscape is rooted from Cockshutt because he was the original owner and had the most substantial influence over the landscape. The ecological significance of this landscape began from Cockshutt's passion for collecting trees from various countries around the world and having an eye-pleasing landscape to share his love for horticulture with his community. The cultural and historical significance is shared through the various art sculptures and the historic and diverse trees that originated from various places around the world from Cockshutt's beloved tree collection. The role of humans was successful on this landscape as his wishes were granted by his passion for art and the landscape to be shared with his community. By the art sculptures located on the landscape with many diverse trees such as the Douglas Fir, Weeping Willow, The Black Locust, Japanese Katsura, Tulip, Black Oak and many more. The landscape has undergone very little changes over the last hundred years as many efforts are made to preserve the historic landscape of Glenhyrst Gardens. The only changes to occur to Glenhyrst are the adding of art sculptures, planting more trees, plants, and flower beds. The historical significance of this landscape is protected and preserved by the City of Brantford.

Municipality: Brant

Local area name: Brantford

Other identifying names or descriptions- The Telephone City

Latitude and longitude: 43°09'21"N 80°17'20"W

Physical Dimensions

Length: 380m

Width: 170m

Surface Area: N/A

Elevation:

Highest / lowest point - 250m / 214m

Glenhyrst gardens is a landscape, open to the use of the public that has multiple arrays of garden beds, plenty of domestic trees, and a peaceful environment connected to the Grand River, the Trans Canada Trail System, train track networks and the within close proximity to the 403 highways. This landscape is taken care of by the city of Brantford's parks and recreation department, where the grass is kept well cut and green, the gardens are always expanding and stunning, with art sculptures from local artists included in the property. This landscape serves artistic and cultural pursuits to be enjoyed by all ages through the indoor tea house and art gallery, along with the benches and paths available for personal use.

Map caption: Location of Glenhyrst Gardens in Brantford, Ontario, Canada

a) Biota

Plant communities

The main landscape of Glenhyrst gardens in the top level is a solely the cultivated plant group. The cultivated plant group is the result of horticulture which is defined by Hough (2004) as "the art or science of cultivating or managing gardens – embodies the ideal of nature under control" (p. 92). Glenhyrst gardens is maintained by the city of Brantford, who have made the gardens into almost a work of art through the development and structure of the art beds being kept under strict control, for example there is a flower bed that is shaped to be a peacock (reference). The city of Brantford has shaped the landscape of Glenhyrst gardens to fit into the cultivated plant group. Hough (2004) describes in a cultivated plant community "each tree, shrub, and flower is a symbol of human ingenuity, an artefact in a humanized landscape" (p. 92), Glenhyrst garden without a doubt has become a humanized landscape. This landscape was originally owned by the Stratford family, and it is highly likely that prior to their development of the landscape, the landscape was natural before colonization. The landscape likely had plenty of wildlife, natural shrubs, flowers, and trees. The city of Brantford does conventional maintenance on Glenhyrst gardens which is to keep the design as close to the fixed picture as possible. This is achieved as described by Hough (2004) as the "formidable arsenal of mowing equipment, leaf vacuums and blowers, fertilizer spreaders, herbicide and pesticide sprayers, to keep the plants under control" (p. 113). By the city of Brantford keeping Glenhyrst garden's plants under so much control, they do not allow for natural decomposition of the fallen leaves and tree branches to decompose back into their natural environment. The use of leaf vacuums and blowers does not allow for natural decomposition for the fallen leaves and branches to fertilize the environment that they originated. It is obvious that the use of herbicide and pesticide is used at Glenhyrst gardens as the grass is 'picture-perfect', free of natural weeds in the grass. In recent decades there is a lack of understanding of the importance of natural weeds in the ground and it would be beneficial for the environment if people strayed away from picking the weeds in the ground. Weeds such as dandelions, clovers and other natural weeds are important for the natural environment although they are now portrayed to be seen as "ugly" and "out-of-control". The 'picture-perfect' controlled short green cut grass is for the benefit of the human eye only and is not natural or necessary for our land. This level of control over the natural environment could lead to a lack of wildlife specifically a lack of birds. Hough (2004) describes a study for the National Capital Commission in Ottawa expressed the benefits and importance of "leaving remaining grasslands as meadow during the summer months, a far greater diversity of bird species was created in a very short space of time" (p.113). This shows that excessive amounts of control on natural landscapes leads to species leaving the natural environment to find areas of less control such as meadows. Meadows provide vegetation for birds with meadow seed sources. The important take away from this study is that it doesn't take long for the bird species to return, it just takes a change. Glenhyrst gardens could incorporate this by having areas within the landscape having less control. This could be places along the outside edges of the landscape or in the bottom level. Glenhyrst gardens is a place those purpose is to remain pleasing to the eye and having outgrown meadows would not meet that requirement. Since Glenhyrst gardens has such a high level of control on cultivating plant communities, it would be beneficial for the city of Brantford to recognize that and have areas of less control for the natural environment to thrive. In the bottom level of Glenhyrst gardens there is the Grand River with the rail trail running along it. The rail trail is a thirty-two-kilometer trail that goes from Hamilton to Brantford and consists of the native plant community along the trail. The native plant community is the forest surrounding the lower level of Glenhyrst which consists of elements of the original ecosystem without human control.

Animals

Glenhyrst gardens animal species are minimal but still existent. Animals that can be found at the main garden are squirrels, which run throughout the park from tree to tree where they likely have nests at the top of the aged trees. Squirrels prefer to build their nests out of intertwined sticks and leaves, favourably at very high points in the trees. Glenhyrst gardens makes for a great habitat for squirrels as there are a few dozen aged trees. It is likely although I have never personally seen that raccoons and skunks are present at Glenhyrst gardens. Glenhyrst gardens habitats multiple birds on the landscape that can nest in the aged trees and have vegetation throughout the landscape. At Glenhyrst gardens there are blue jays, robins, woodpeckers, hawks that find shelter on the landscape. At Glenhyrst gardens there is as Hough (2004) describes as "little in the way of food, shelter or breeding places for wildlife" (p. 134) because of the cultivated plant community that is primarily human control does not allow for much food, shelter and breeding for wildlife at Glenhyrst gardens. At the lower level of Glenhyrst gardens is along the Grand River which has many Canadian geese that habitat around the river. The lower level of Glenhyrst gardens shifts more to the native plant community that is less human controlled with natural forests which habitat coyotes, deer, and other wild species. Animals such as coyotes and deer prefer to habitat away from human civilization and live in the habitat of the natural forest. Before human's colonized Glenhyrst gardens making it into an estate it was likely "woodland and forest, grassland and meadow, marshes and water are the habitat for wildlife" (Hough, 2004, p.131). Before colonization, the property was likely filled with natural wildlife all along the landscape and due to humanization wildlife has been forced to leave the landscape and find habitat elsewhere.

Endangered Species

There are endangered species in Ontario that are relevant to Brantford, Ontario and Glenhyrst gardens. The endangered species are not currently an overwhelming concern but that does not make the effects any less. The endangered species in Ontario are Incurved Grizzled moss, vascular plants specifically: Illinois Tick-trefoil and Spring Blue-eyed Mary. Endangered insects are American Burying beetle, Eastern Persius Duskywing, Frosted Elfin and Karner blue. Endangered fish are Gravel Chub and Paddlefish, and endangered amphibians are Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Eastern Tiger Salamander and Spring Salamander. Endangered reptiles are Eastern Box Turtle and Timber Rattlesnake and birds that are endangered are Eskimo Curlew and Greater Prairie chicken (Endangered Species Act, 2007). These are the endangered species in Ontario that are relevant to Glenhyrst gardens.

b) Geomorphology:

Soil

Glenhyrst gardens is a relatively level landscape with three houses located on the property with various trees, flower beds, and bushes. Glenhyrst gardens primarily consists of inner-city soil. Soil properties at Glenhyrst gardens are "affected by compaction processes such as human-foot traffic, vehicular traffic, and construction work" (Wessolek, 2008). Human-foot traffic affects the conditions of the soil as there is a lot of human presence walking around at Glenhyrst gardens. There is vehicle traffic along the loop that surrounds the main upper garden that is also a disruption to the conditions of the soil. There has not been a lot of construction work at Glenhyrst gardens. Although there has been construction work done to the left side of the main building and the original construction to build the road and the original buildings that could have impacted the soil properties. The landscape in the upper garden remains from the original owner which has very minimal disruption to the soils. The soils, however, under-go a lot of pesticide treatment and overly amounts of human control which is shown through the perfectly weed-free green grass. The soils at Glenhyrst gardens are affected by the human use of the property and human control however, the landscape does have remaining soils from the original that have been untouched as this landscape has always been honored for its horticulture and landscaping.

Erosion

There are natural changes in geomorphology that have occurred over time at the landscape of Glenhyrst gardens through erosion. The entrance level and upper garden are level with the road and surrounding community. The first parking lot is elevated as erosion has caused the difference in elevation. The major erosion occurrence at Glenhyrst gardens is the lower-level garden. It is significantly eroded and lower than the upper garden. The lower garden is likely affected as it is along the Grand River and is near elevation to the lower river level. Erosion has very clearly occurred at Glenhyrst gardens as the landscape itself has about three main different elevation points.

Human Induced change

There is not a lot of human induced change at Glenhyrst gardens which is interesting because it is an extremely human controlled landscape. The main landscape in the upper garden is not overly leveled, graded, or plowed. As you walk through the landscape to walk around the trees, gardens, and art sculptures there are natural bumps and divots in the ground from natural erosion that has been left as it is. The gardens are not completely level which has been left natural from human induced change. The only major human induced change is the beautifying of the gardens, additions of planting trees and the art sculptures along the landscape. The landscape of Glenhyrst gardens is preserved from the original with minimal to no human induced change and is used as a natural nature site to view gardens, trees, and art.

c) Hydrology / Hydrogeology:

The landscape of Glenhyrst gardens has very minimal hydrogeology significance as the landscape is entirely on land with no presence of lakes, rivers, streams, drainage basins etc. on the landscape. However, the far edge of Glenhyrst gardens does run alongside the Grand River. The Grand River is not a part of Glenhyrst gardens but is located directly beside it. The Grand River is "the largest watershed in southern Ontario" (Finkelstein, 2014) and is included in the "Canadian Heritage Rivers System in 1994" (Finkelstein, 2014). The Grand River's natural changes in hydrogeology are frequent water level changes. The water level in dry months can get scarcely low while in rainy seasons the Grand River has raised water levels that are very high. Alberti (2008) describes how "groundwater is replenished when precipitation is sufficient to infiltrate the soil and seep down into subsurface storage areas or the saturated zone" (p. 141). This is shown in the Grand River's water levels after rain fall, the Grand River water levels significantly rise. The Grand River located along Glenhyrst gardens does not undergo any human-induced changes to hydrogeology, there are not any ponds, wells, channeling, or water diversions on or near the landscape of Glenhyrst gardens.

d) Climate / microclimate

The human-induced changes that have occurred to Glenhyrst gardens and the surrounding region that has altered the microclimate are civilization, wind, plants, and pollution. The surrounding civilization of neighbourhoods, companies, and factories around Glenhyrst gardens has raised the temperature in that area. Hough (2004) explains how temperatures are higher in cities than in the countryside for many reasons, some being "wind around buildings, reduced evaporation, and greater conductivity" (p. 202). The surrounding houses and buildings in the area around Glenhyrst gardens reduces a great amount of wind, which ultimately raises the temperature as strong, cold winds often lower the temperature. Wind also "affects temperatures, evaporation, the rate of moisture loss and transpiration from vegetations and drifting snow; all of which are particularly important to local micro-climatic conditions" (Hough, 2004, p. 203). All of these factors reduce the temperature in the area and show human-induced changes that have occurred around Glenhyrst gardens affecting the temperature. Air pollution has a major effect on the climate in a city, Glenhyrst gardens is located near many factories that cause large amounts of pollution into the air every day. A significant addition to pollution in climates is from car emissions, Brantford is an extremely automobile dependent city which has an impact on the climate in the city. The existence of factories pollution in the climate is entirely human-induced. Humans have built countless factories around the world, and many are in Brantford that produce human induced pollution. As well as car emissions is entirely human-induced. A change to a public-transit dependent city would reduce emissions significantly but citizens seem to side with convenience over reducing pollution. Plants are also a factor affecting climate and temperature through a part process of photosynthesis. Plants "transpiration of water by plants helps control and regulate humidity and temperature" (Hough, 2004, p. 202). Plants processes decrease and regulate temperature. By the large number of plants and trees at Glenhyrst gardens is a way human's have induced changes in the climate. Hough (2004) describes how a single large tree can transpire four-hundred and fifty litres of water of day that naturally gets put back into the earth's climate. A natural and environment control are plants. "Plants filter dust in cities [and] … leaves can take up or absorb pollutants such as ozone and sulphur dioxide to significant levels" (Hough, 2004, p. 205). Humans induced changes can be positively affective by improving the environments and natural landscapes by planting plants and trees to help filter dust and absorb pollutants. Hough (2004) "demonstrated that a Douglas fir with a diameter of 38 centimetres can remove 19.7 kilograms of sulphur dioxide per year without injury from an atmosphere" (p. 205). There are multiple Douglas fir trees on the local landscape of Glenhyrst gardens and in the surrounding area that affect the climate. Glenhyrst gardens and the surrounding region is significantly affected by human-induced changes that alter the microclimate, the climate is positively affected by civilizations reduction in wind and plants affected on the negative effects of air pollution that is in the climate.

Archaeological influences

The land use history of the landscape Glenhyrst gardens in Brantford, Ontario was discovered and inhabited by "the Haudenosaunee people, commonly referred to as the Six Nations or Iroquois [peoples] relocated on the Haldimand Tract along the Grand River… in 1784" (Discover Indigenous culture and history along the TransCanada Trail, 2019). "A Mohawk village comprised of 400 inhabitants, log cabins, a long house and a chapel was established near a shallow part of the Grand River which was used as a safe crossing point" (Discover Indigenous culture and history along the TransCanada Trail, 2019). The Indigenous people were the first to establish life in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, the Indigenous people lived off the land to hunt, eat, find shelter, and make a life on the land here in Brantford and across the rest of Canada before colonization took over their land. The Indigenous communities influenced this landscape by bringing immense amounts of cultural value to the land. This could be a reason why Edmund Cockshutt put so much importance into his landscape serving artistic and cultural pursuits as this landscape is extremely culturally significant. This landscape, Glenhyrst gardens is located along a part of the Grand River which the Grand River was very significant for Indigenous people as it was their mode of transportation and form of hunting, Indigenous "people hunted mastodon and bison here [on the Grand River] more than 10 000 years ago" (Finkelstein, 2014). The Grand River in Brantford holds extreme cultural value in the history of the land. Presently "the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory has the largest First Nations population in Canada" (Discover Indigenous culture and history along the TransCanada Trail, 2019), this shows the importance of understanding the culture significance in Brantford, Ontario of the Indigenous people who discovered this land and influenced the way our land is represented today.

Land use history:

The land use history upon the arrival of European settlers was the beginning of the land becoming divided and purchased for personal use instead of historically living off the land without the need for ownership over it. Glenhyrst gardens was first owned by The Stratford family in Brantford, who sold the land to Mr. Edmund Cockshutt. Cockshutt used his land for person residential use as he built his personal estate on the property that is presently used as the Glenhyrst Art gallery. Cockshutt was very passionate for horticulture and landscaping, his goal was to allow the public to enjoy the beauty of his gardens, so they could be shared by everyone in the community. Cockshutt influenced the landscape of Glenhyrst gardens immensely because rather than selling his land for personal profit after his death, he donated it to the city of Brantford to continue serving the community with artistic and cultural pursuits. The landscape of Glenhyrst gardens may have never remained to this day if it wasn't for Mr. Edmund Cockshutt's donation of his land to be protected by the city of Brantford.

Education / Interpretation:

The educational resources for my local landscape are available in brochures and booklets located in the main art gallery building at Glenhyrst gardens. The resources on the history of the landscape are very minimal as Glenhyrst gardens mainly focusses on artistic pursuits now. The Glenhyrst garden website has minimal educational information but is still available at glenhyrst.ca.

Architectural Heritage:

At the local landscape, Glenhyrst gardens there are three buildings, the main house, the coach house, and the gardener's cottage. Every building is preserved for its historical significance. The main building was built by Brantford architect F. C. Bodley in 1922 (Designation of Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, 2000) and served as the original owner, Edmund Cockshutt's estate that presently serves as the public art gallery. This building is protected under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 84-2000) (Glenhyrst, 2000). The original grandfather clock and buffet remain in the main building art gallery today. The only construction that has occurred to the main building is an extension on the left side to add a tearoom for social and cultural pursuits. The original coach house is used to store artwork and the gardener's cottage are public washrooms.

Recreational Uses:

Recreational uses at Glenhyrst gardens are held in the main art gallery building. Glenhyrst gardens offers artistic summer camp programs for children and youth ages 5-11. The summer camp offers different themes every week such as Atlantic: the lost city, mythical beasts, marvel madness and many more. Glenhyrst gardens does different art projects and activities related to the theme along with educating the children and youth about art such as illustration techniques and exploring texture, colour, and design (Glenhyrst, n.d.). Glenhyrst offers children and youth classes that consist of holiday card making, classes vary depending on the time of year and senior classes consist of writing classes, needle felting, needle point and many more. Glenhyrst gardens serves the community with educational opportunities to explore artistic and cultural pursuits led by the staff of Glenhyrst art gallery. An informal recreation use at Glenhyrst gardens is the Brantford-Hamilton rail trail that runs along the Grand River, beside Glenhyrst's landscape.

Ownership, jurisdiction, access, and management

The owner of my local landscape Glenhyrst gardens was Mr. Edmund Cockshutt who purchased the land in 1914 from the Stratford family. Cockshutt was from an influential family in Brantford, Ontario and shared his passion for art and horticulture on his landscape. Cockshutt died in 1956 and donated his property to the city of Brantford. The city of Brantford now owns this land by Cockshutt's wishes for it to be shared with the public for artistic and cultural pursuits. The estate Cockshutt lived in is preserved and used as an art gallery, with the land being managed by the government's department, Parks and Recreation of Brantford. Parks and Recreation has complete influence over the landscape but must stay within Cockshutt's wishes. The department Parks and Recreation maintain the grass, flower beds, and every aspect of the outdoor landscape. The landscape could never be bought to replace with houses or any other purpose because Cockshutt's owns the land and donated it to the city of Brantford under strict circumstances. The landscape has served artistic and cultural pursuits since the city of Brantford has taken over the landscape and will always remain as it is today without changes occurring over time unless it is to improve the quality of the pursuits. Glenhyrst gardens is open to the public and free of cost every day, at any time. The only plans in place for Glenhyrst gardens are to expand the artistic pursuits by building another building on the lower level as a theatre to expand on artistic pursuits. The city of Brantford preserves and honours Cockshutt's wishes fully.

Glenhyrst gardens surrounding connections of the Grand River, train tracks, highway, and rail trail can be understood through the urban ecology network approach. The network theory shows that "landscapes can also be described as complex networks of human and natural agents connected by biogeophysical and socioeconomic processes" (Alberti, 2008, p. 101). A natural agent connection along Glenhyrst gardens is the Grand River, a section of the Grand River runs directly beside Glenhyrst gardens. In the past, the Grand River was used as a form of transportation that could have imported items to and from Glenhyrst gardens using the Grand River as the mode of transportation. The front of Glenhyrst garden is across the street from train tracks that have been in place since 1905 (Lefler, 2016). The train tracks served as a mode of transportation for humans and for items to travel across the country with minimal effort. While Edmund Cockshutt was constructing his estate in 1922, it is likely he had parts sent to his property via train. Glenhyrst gardens is presently about a five-minute drive from the 403 highway that was constructed in 1963. This was nonexistent during Edmund Cockshutt's era but is the main form of transportation today. Glenhyrst gardens need for materials and for visitors to travel to the landscape is likely done through the use of the easily accessible 403 highway. The Trans Canada Trail system or commonly known as the rail trail also runs close to Glenhyrst gardens down by the Grand River. The rail trail was constructed and finished in 1996 for the use of walkers and bikers to travel from Hamilton to Brantford to Port Dover in a single trail. This trail is used primarily for recreational use. People using the rail trail can easily stop at Glenhyrst gardens for personal tourism purposes. Glenhyrst gardens is a prime example of the urban ecology network theory, showing how affected Glenhyrst gardens is by the surrounding networking systems; natural and human related.

The city of Brantford owns Glenhyrst gardens. Contact information below.

58 Dalhousie Street, Brantford, ON N3T 2J2

519-759-4150

The Parks and recreation departments manages the landscape. Contact information below.

1 Sherwood Drive, Brantford, ON N3T 1N3

519-756-1500

The artistic pursuits are handled by Glenhyrst Art Gallery. Contact information below.

20 Ava Road, Brantford, ON N3T 5G9

info@glenhyrst.ca

519-756-5932

Alberti, M. (2008). Advances in Urban Ecology. Springer. https://link-springer-com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-0-387-75510-6.pdf

Discover Indigenous culture and history along the TransCanada Trail. (2019, December 23). Ontario. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.ontario.ca/page/indigenous-culture-and-history-along-transcanada-trail

Endangered Species Act. (2007). Ontario. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/080230

Finkelstein, M. W. (2014, January 23). Grand River. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/grand-river

Glenhyrst. (2000, May 29). Canada's Historic Places. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10024

Hough, M. (2004, June 15). Cities and Natural Process: A Basis for Sustainability. Taylor & Francis Group. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/lib/brocku/reader.action?docID=200203
Lefler, R. (2016). Brantford Railways. Old Time Trains. http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CNR/gtr/Brantford.htm

Wessolek, G. (2008). Sealing of Soils. In J. M. Marzluff., E. Shulenberger., W. Endlicher., M. Alberti., G. Bradley., C. Ryan., U. Simon., & C. ZumBrunnen. (Eds.), Urban Ecology: An International Perspective on the Interaction Between Humans and Nature (pp. 161-179). Springer. https://link-springer-com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-0-387-73412-5.pdf

Images cited:

Image 4

Google (2014). Map of Brantford. https://www.google.com/search?q=brantford+map&rlz=...

Images 1-3 & 5-12 are photographed by author K. Calder

This Local Landscape Report was prepared by Kiara Calder for the Brock University course TMGT 2P94: Human Dominated Ecosystems on November 14, 2021.

All copyrights for cited material rest with the original copyright owners.