The plants in this new Toronto garden share one thing in common: A problematic past

The garden is part of “Botannica Tirannica,” a new exhibit at Koffler Arts located inside Artscape Youngplace at 180 Shaw St., which examines the plants and plant names that have perpetuated and symbolized social prejudices against marginalized groups through a multimedia exhibit with hybrid images of plants created through the use of AI. Award-winning Brazilian artist Giselle Beiguelman, who created this exhibit, worked alongside Isaac Crosby, a local Black and Ojibwa agricultural expert and knowledge keeper, to include a Canadian colonial context.

Crosby is known for his work revitalizing Indigenous traditional practices like phytoremediation — using plants to clean up contaminated environments — and mentoring Indigenous students through gardening projects across the city. Among those, he is the former lead Indigenous gardener at Evergreen Brickworks, where he has worked to create Indigenous cultural and green spaces in the once industrialized area.

The garden puts the plants’ problematic names, scientific names and their original Indigenous names on display, such as dieffenbachia, called “dumb cane,” which was used by plantation owners to torture enslaved people, as it makes the mouth swell when eaten. Crosby hopes learning about this history will encourage people to begin using the plant’s traditional Indigenous names, a step, he says, toward revitalizing Indigenous languages and culture.

He took a break from gardening to speak to the Star about his garden and the exhibit, which runs until Oct. 20.

Why did you choose to plant these species together?

When I plant gardens like that, I do my best to be like nature. Even though some of them don’t go together naturally, they could be within the vicinity of each other, so I do my best to keep it as natural as I can.

Why do you think it’s important to have this garden in downtown Toronto? 

A few things! Number one, to turn that eyesore that’s in front of the Koffler Centre into something people actually talk about, which they are doing now. Number two was to share the Botannica Tirannica exhibit outside, and (for people to) see the different names on the plants. And three, for there to be a focus on native plants — plants that naturally grow here. 

What story do you hope people get from walking through this space?

I really hope they are able to see the story of how plants got their names, especially when it comes to Indigenous plants. When the settlers came over here, our names of our plants were changed – they were given all Latin names or English names or French names, and not the true names the Indigenous people have given them.

I’m in the process of relearning the names of all those Indigenous plants, because I want to speak to them that way. They need to be spoken to by their own name, because their names have special things with them.

What kind of challenges did you face introducing all the plants you wanted into this urban space that seems a bit hostile to life, with an old tree stump, lots of concrete, and right next to a road? And how much did you work with what was here — like were these dandelions and mushrooms here?

They were here! So what I loved about this was the fact that Giselle wanted to keep this. That’s perfect because why should we dig this up, when it’s already doing what it’s supposed to do — we just need to plant around it. At the same time, it allows the children to keep playing around here. I saw a kid running down here and jumping in a puddle (on the side of the garden), and I thought that’s the coolest thing ever, I want to jump with you.

Working with (what’s here) is amazing. Mushrooms keep popping up after the rain, and apparently this tree (stump) was planted by Queen Elizabeth. 

I’m curious about this sign over the garden, “Every weed is a rebellious being.” What does that mean to you in this project?

Here in Canada, a lot of our weeds are actually native species that people don’t know about. For me, first of all, I don’t call them weeds — I call them plants behaving badly.

I love to go get all the seeds and traditional (Indigenous) plants we don’t talk about anymore and start planting them here (in Toronto) and telling people about them, because we must. Because that, to me, will make people stop calling them weeds, because they will see the benefits of who they are.

I noticed a lot of your projects touch on strengthening or reclaiming Indigenous connections to the land. What have you learned or taken away from those projects that fuels your work here?

There are a few things, actually. Number one, I realize that because of how I grew up, being Black and Indigenous in southwestern Ontario and growing up on a farm, a lot of First Nations peoples on reserves never grew up on farms. They were disconnected.

So my first thing is when I’m doing my gardens and stuff like that, I always reach out to the Indigenous community. Every year for the past five years, I mentor seven Indigenous students on Indigenous agriculture techniques.

Next one is to make sure that non-Indigenous people understand Indigenous agricultural techniques.

The climate crisis to me means that, OK, let’s look more and more at Indigenous techniques. So more and more people who aren’t Indigenous, that’s who I’m teaching, because they want to learn.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Correction — June 25, 2024

This article has been updated. Isaac Crosby is the former lead Indigenous gardener at Evergreen Brickworks. As well, a photo of a Pagoda Dogwood plant was misidentified as a smoke bush plant.