50 years of the Muttart Conservatory: More than pyramids and plants

CTV News Edmonton’s Matt Woodman takes a look at the history of the Muttart Conservatory, the city's 50-year-old botanical garden.

Once upon a time in Edmonton, an architect built a botanic garden under glass pyramids. The landmark has occupied Edmonton’s skyline for 50 years and become a place of learning, a canvass for artistic inspiration and a neat spot to hold a wedding or birthday party.

This story revisits a few of the memorable moments of the Muttart Conservatory as it prepares to celebrate its golden anniversary.

The land

The pyramids dwell in one of Edmonton’s oldest neighbourhoods, Cloverdale. Once called the Gallagher flats, this land was an industrial area in the early 1900s that included a brickyard, an incinerator and a meat-packing plant.

According to the City of Edmonton’s website, the flood of 1915 destroyed most of the businesses and houses took their place in the rebuild. The land was eventually rezoned to park land as the city grew.

Edmonton’s first historian laureate, Ken Tingley, wrote Heart of the City, which tells the story of the Cloverdale neighbourhood.

The story of this land goes back even further: It is on Treaty 6 territory and is a piece of land entrenched in the history of more than just the City of Edmonton.

The pyramids

Moo-tart? Mew-tart? Actually, it’s pronounced Mut-tart.

Construction of the Muttart Conservatory, designed by Peter Hemingway, began in 1974 and it opened in September 1976. The Muttart Foundation donated $1 million in memory of its founders — philanthropists Merrill and Gladys Muttart — toward the project and the rest of the $2 million price tag was covered by the City of Edmonton and the Alberta government.

The Muttart consists of four glass pyramids, called biomes, with a fifth smaller pyramid that sits over the centre court. Three of the four pyramids house plants specific to certain climates.

“We have tropical which (is) warm and humid, we have arid which (is) like a dessert lacking water, and then we have temperate which is change in seasons,” Megan Gergatz-McMorran, the attractions program coordinator for the Muttart, said, adding that the fourth pyramid, called feature, changes six times a year.

It is home to 700 different types of plants, making its indoor plant collection one of Canada’s largest.

The wonder

A stunning design, the pyramids gleam in the sunlight, glow in the sunset and offer an escape from the cold during winter months. But they are more than just another pretty feature to Edmonton’s skyline, and more than just a botanical garden on the inside.

“Even in this modern age with spy satellites everywhere that can read the brand of cigarette you are smoking ... there are still things like this that we can still find on this planet. That, I think, is the wonder of it,” Bob Dixon from the Muttart said of the Wollemi Pine, which arrived at the Conservatory in October 2009.

This pine, whose fossils have been dated back to the Jurassic period, was believed to be extinct until the 90s, Gergatz-McMorran said. In 1996, an Australian “bushwacker” out for a hike discovered approximately 100 of the pines growing. Cuttings from the Wollemi Pine that arrived in 2009 are still growing at the Muttart today.

In the fall of 2012, an American Agave plant, donated to the Muttart in the 70s, started growing about a foot per day as it prepared for its big moment. Gergatz-McMorran calls it a century plant because it was originally believed to take 100 years to bloom, but it actually takes 35 years. It was over 30 feet tall when it finally bloomed and it lasted a few months because American Agave bloom once in their life and then die.

Jim McIvor from the Muttart Conservatory spoke to Alberta Primetime in December 2012 about the blooming agave.

“It’s not really, I would say, floriferous, like impressive, but they’re there and they’re all opening and doing its part hoping it gets pollinated.” He went on to say that even though the agave wouldn’t get pollinated at the Muttart, “it gives off little babies” which get collected and grown into new plants.

The smell

Filled with plants and dirt, a clean earthy, sometimes damp aroma wafts through the air of each biome. That is until one unique plant decides to show off.

In 2012, a corpse flower arrived in Edmonton and settled its roots at the Muttart. And while it was a sight to see even before it bloomed, when the main event finally happened in 2013, a crowd of eager sniffers were waiting to get a whiff of the putrid bloom.

Garbage, dirty diapers, and rotten meat were a few of the ways visitors described the scent.

CTV News Edmonton sent Josh Classen to the pyramids to investigate how smelly the corpse flower really was. On the day the plant, nicknamed Putrella, bloomed, Classen did his weather forecasts live from the Muttart. He brought along his goalie glove to test if the corpse flower was more rotten than his hockey gear. It was not.

This was only the third time a corpse flower had been grown in Canada. Five years later, Gagness, another corpse flower, made its first bloom.

Gergatz-McMorran has yet to experience the scent of a corpse flower for herself, and the current one doesn’t appear to be close to blooming.

“We don’t know when it will bloom again … the roots, they will be about like 200 pounds.” They can grow up to eight feet tall, she said, before it is ready to reveal itself and its smell. It takes about 10 years for the plant to bloom for the first time and six to seven years after the first bloom.

The renovations

The Muttart has gone through two significant renovations. The first one saw the conservatory close in 2008 for just over a year and $6.3 million was spent to renovate the centre court, upgrade the gift shop and cafe, as well as to improve accessibility. An outdoor courtyard was added as well as more student space.

The second time the pyramids closed for renovations and upgrades was in July 2019. The goal was to add updates and increase the life of the building. Graham Construction & Engineering inc. and Williams Engineering Canada did work on the heating, electrical and piping systems, which cost $13 million. A water feature, fireplace and living wall were also added. The Muttart stayed closed five months longer than planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alongside planned improvements some unforeseen occurrences also called for glass repairs over the years.

“In all of my history with the city and here at Muttart, I have never heard of this happening before,” Donna Hamel with the City of Edmonton said in September of 2009 when an 18-year-old woman attempting to climb the smaller pyramid fell through when the glass broke. Dropping about six metres into the Muttart, she suffered serious injuries and was taken away in an ambulance.

Hamel said it was common for people to be up near the pyramids to take pictures of Edmonton’s skyline, but this was the first she’d heard of anyone trying to climb them. Pietro Costo, who lived across the street, agreed he’d never seen anyone try to climb the glass.

In August 2012, a hail storm hit the city and broke approximately 900 panes of the glass over the greenhouses at the Muttart. Heather Seutter, director of the Muttart at the time, told CTV News Edmonton they “were concerned about the size of the hail,” and evacuated the pyramids.

The main pyramids are three-pane glass and didn’t break, but the greenhouses are only one pane. It cost $150,000 and took a few weeks to replace the damaged greenhouse glass.

The rest

The pyramids are more than a place to look at plants. You can also buy them.

Every spring the Conservatory holds its bedding plant sale, offering local gardeners the chance to purchase plants grown in the Muttart’s greenhouses.

“You’re pretty much getting a pristine plant,” Sarah Birmingham from the Muttart said in 2022, because the plants purchased are not touched by anyone until they are sold. During COVID-19, the Muttart moved its plant sale online and it worked so well the practice stayed.

“I think what we’re known for is the quality of the plants. People definitely say that the plants they get here are healthy and last the whole summer,” Gergatz-McMorran said. Ordering happens at the end of April and pick-up is in May.

Along with the guided and self-guided tours available, an assortment of activities and programs operate throughout the year. Drop-in programs for younger kids offer exploration and experimentation and they have seniors day and happy hours for adults.

Some of the most popular registered programs they offer include DIY terrariums, sound baths and yoga, Gergatz-McMorran said.

The anniversary

“Peter Hemingway obviously had a really good design because we’ve had this now for 50 years,” Gergatz-McMorran said of the Muttart’s milestone.

So how does an iconic landmark celebrate its golden anniversary? An event is being planned for the fall with details yet to be announced. The celebration will also be reflected in the spring Hydrangea show in which they are planning to showcase the colour gold.

“It’s going to be very pretty,” she said.

In the meantime, the feature pyramid is currently home to a “Prehistoric Paradise,” the centre court is a great place to meet a friend or sit and paint and the pyramids still hold a place in the Edmonton skyline for aspiring photographers to capture.