The Muttart Conservatory’s feature pyramid has been transformed into the Hundred Acre Wood, the home of Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Opened June 27, the display consists of topiaries of Winnie, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger and other details from the fictional setting of A. A. Milne’s story. “Last year, the work started with an artist … making the metal frames of (the characters), and then the growers … started to stuff them with the soil, moss, chicken wire, and then eventually … the plants,” explained Megan Gergatz-McMorran, the conservatory’s attractions program manager. Winnie the Pooh turns 100 this year. Milne’s hunny-loving character was inspired by a female black bear who had been found in White River, Ont., and donated to the London Zoo in 1914. Canadian Army veterinarian Harry Colebourn purchased the orphaned Winnie, named after Winnipeg, where he lived at the time, from a trapper. Winnie travelled with Colebourn’s regiment for several months as its unofficial mascot. More than a decade later, Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, became enamoured with the bear in the zoo, leading to the creation of the story series in 1926. Milne’s work was licensed by Disney in the early 1960s. The Muttart’s feature pyramid will be open until Sept. 13. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell
