Canadian Museum of Nature unveils Landscapes of Canada Gardens exhibit

A new outdoor exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature allows visitorsto experience Canada's north, and get a taste of the landscape inhabited bywoolly mammoths during the last ice age.

• Bill Lishman and his new iceberg sculpture at Canadian Museum of Nature

The Landscapes of Canada Gardens exhibit opens Saturday.

The outdoor space on the museum's property features about 40 native species of trees and plants typically found in Canada's boreal forest, Arctic tundra and prairie grasslands.

PaulSokoloff,abotanistwith the museum, helped design the garden.

"We worked really hard with our landscapearchitectsto pick species that grow upinthetundra but are also able togrow in this area," said Sokoloff.

A fourth section, the Mammoth Steppe, recreates an ice age habitat complete with life-size sculptures of a mammoth family.

Park benches, and a picnic area provide spots to relax or take in the gardens.

Access to the Landscape of Canada Gardens is free and the space is open year-round.