The blue moon in May signalled staff at the Centennial Botanical Conservatory to head out to City of Thunder Bay parks to begin the planting of 75,000 plants that will be installed this summer.
A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a single calendar month, and in May, the first, or flower, full moon occurred on May 1, and the second, or blue, full moon occurred on May 31.
Andrea Nickerson, the conservatory’s facility curator, said, typically, planting begins after the June full moon when the risk of frost ends.
“But crews are already out planting in Vickers Park as of June 8,” she said. “The projected date was the sixth of June, but because of scheduling, it didn’t happen until the eighth, and it was really because it coincided with what the Farmer’s Almanac was saying about the frost dates.”
After years of closure and purchasing plants for City parks and venues, the newly rebuilt conservatory greenhouse facility is back to growing its own annuals, perennials, and native plant collection at a cost savings for the City. Having been open for six months, Nickerson says the conservatory had planned for the 2026 outdoor planting in November last year.
“You’ll see lots of different colours in different gardens this year. We have more than 40 different varieties of plants going in,” she said. Everything starts here from seed, although some come as little plugs, depending on the variety of plant, but more than 90 per cent of all of the plants going into the City parks are started by seed here at the conservatory.”
As the seeds grow to different stages, they are transplanted to larger flats, which will eventually be brought to the park gardens for planting.
“Our whole production space is currently filled with blooming annuals,” she said. “We manage them, water them, fertilize them, and keep them in optimal health here before they get planted, and it’s beautiful and colourful as everything comes together.”
As the staff waits for a safe, frost-free time to plant, they are able to plant their hardier perennials before the more sensitive annuals.
“This year has been an extremely long winter in Northwestern Ontario,” she said, adding that the rule of thumb is to follow the Farmer’s Almanac guidelines. “The last thing that we need is a late frost to damage all of the annuals that we’ve been growing all year, especially in our prized Sunken Garden.
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