A municipal-led horticulture team in Hamilton, Ont., has outdone itself using an annual gardening display at city hall to mark the beginning of football season.
On Wednesday morning, staffers wheeled out “Stripes,” a 10-foot tiger-cat made up of some 2,000 individual local plants of varying types to mark the coming of better weather.
Some 984 plants make up an accompanying CFL-style football.
“The team worked diligently over the last few months to put together and paint the current display, inspired by the Ticats mascot,” Manager of Forestry and Horticulture Robyn Pollard told Global News in an email.
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“Similar to years past, it will be out on display for the entire summer season.”
The forestry staff posted samples showing some of the arduous work through an Instagram video.
Pollard says the official number of hours it took to put together have not been tallied yet, as the project is not finalized.
“Work will continue this week … but we estimate staff spent 296 hours, so far,” he said.
The project began back in September, according to Pollard, which included discussions with the artist who developed a sculpture design based on staff’s concept.
The display joined the hottest weather forecast for the city so far in 2023 – sunshine and 31 C.
Although the Hamilton Tiger-Cats organization has no direct ties to the plant sculpture, the franchise that inspired it got its preseason off on the right foot Saturday with a 27-22 victory over the Toronto Argonauts.
The Ticats will play their final exhibition game on June 2 in Montreal and will open the regular season on June 9 in Winnipeg.
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