Plant Canada 2007 - Visites

Note: Tour times indicate pick up and drop off times at TCU Place.

Sunday Tours: 1 to 5pm

Western Development Museum -- Cost: $35

This 'Boomtown' museum claims to be Canada's largest indoor town museum. It features an entire main street full of shops and businesses set in 1910. It also has dozens of old tractors, farm equipment, and cars. For more information see: www.wdm.ca/stoon.html.

Wanuskewin Heritage Park -- Cost: $35

Originally an Aboriginal archeological site, this park is now an educational centre. We will take a guided tour that blends aboriginal culture, archeology and native prairie plants. Their restaurant serves traditional aboriginal foods. For more information see: www.wanuskewin.com.

Thursday tours

Tours may be taken in the morning or in the afternoon. They will run from 8am to Noon and Noon to 4pm. Those going on 2 tours will have time for lunch at the Agriculture building (no need to go back to TCU Place at noon).

Campus Tour #1: U of Sk. Agriculture Building & Plant Gene Resources of Canada -- Cost: $25

The tour will include the Agriculture Building including the Phytotron, and various labs. From the top floor, we will see most of the campus. We will also visit the 'North 40' gift shop and the Ag building's 'Kenderdine Art Gallery'.
At Plant Gene Resources of Canada we will visit the seed genebank and will see labs involved with seed processing, germination tests, cold storage, cryogenic storage and their greenhouse.

Campus Tour #2: Synchrotron and Plant Science Greenhouse -- Cost: $25

The Canadian Light Source or Synchrotron is billed as "Canada's most expensive Science project in over 30 years". Our tour guide will explain its interesting applications with emphasis on plant science research. For more information see: www.lightsource.ca.
The Plant Science Greenhouse contains plant material from various breeding and research programs, pathology experiments, and collections of plants for classes. The ebb and flow greenhouse, mist propagation areas and capillary mat watering systems are particularly interesting. There is also a collection of over 150 different cacti.

Campus Tour #3: Horticulture Field Plots and Patterson Gardens -- Cost: $25

The Horticulture field plots contain 46 acres of fruits, vegetables and ornamentals. Each year the Vegetable Program tests 12 species and over 300 varieties. The Fruit Breeding Program maintains Canada's largest collections of Saskatoons, Blue Honeysuckles, tetraploid strawberries and dwarf sour cherries. It also maintains collections of apples, choke cherries, plums, sandcherries, cherry-plums, black currents, Missouri currents, and pears adapted to zone 2! Patterson gardens is a collection of hundreds of trees and shrubs that were part of the Prairie Regional Trials for Woody Ornamentals. It also has an All-American display garden.