Alexander Wilson (25 May 1953 – 26 October 1993) was a writer, teacher,

landscape designer Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

, and

community activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. Born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, Wilson grew up in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In 1977, he moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, where he lived and worked in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Wilson advocated restoring indigenous plant species to the urban landscape, thereby promoting urban biodiversity and reconnecting urban dwellers with the natural history of the place in which they live. He believed that combining

ecological restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

and

community gardening A community garden is a piece of land gardening, gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for thei ...

could be a way to nurture and improve not only

urban ecosystem In ecology, urban ecosystems are considered a ecosystem functional group within the intensive land-use biome. They are structurally complex ecosystems with highly heterogeneous and dynamic spatial structure that is created and maintained by hum ...

s, but also social and economic relations. In his book, ''The Culture of Nature: North American Landscape from Disney to the Exxon Valdez'' (1991), he dealt with the ways in which culture informs and constructs our understanding of "nature", and he examined the colonisation and appropriation of nature by the city (particularly via the automobile). Wilson established the Garrison Creek Planting Company with artist Stephen Andrews (his

life partner The term significant other (SO) has different uses in psychology and colloquial language. colloquialism, Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral language, gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relatio ...

) and horticulturist Kim Delaney. He also designed the landscaping for the AIDS Memorial, Cawthra Park, itself designed by Patrick Fahn. Following Wilson's death from

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

-related causes, his own memorial plaque was added to the others in the park. On an urban lot near his house Wilson created a reclaimed garden that, after his death, friends tried to buy and preserve. Though they were unsuccessful in that project they did find another downtown lot on which a garden was created and named in his memory, the Alex Wilson Community Garden, which opened in June 1998 at 552 Richmond Street West in Toronto. A plaque in the park includes a quoted passage from ''The Culture of Nature'': ::"We must build landscapes that heal, connect and empower, that make intelligible our relations with each other and the natural world." ----

Bibliography

* ''The Culture of Nature: North American Landscape from Disney to the Exxon Valdez''. Toronto: Between the Lines, 1991.

References

Alex Wilson Community Garden
Accessed 26 April 2006.
Anglo-American Name Authority File, s.v. "Wilson, Alexander, 1953-", LC Control Number nr 99031324
Accessed 26 April 2006.

Accessed 26 April 2006. * ttp://www.clga.ca/Material/Records/docs/toronto/cwrandom.htm Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives; ''Church & Wellesley: Photos'' Accessed 28 April 2006.
Davies, Ioan. ''Theorizing Toronto''
Accessed 28 April 2006. * Orsini, David
''Remembering Alex Wilson''
Accessed 27 January 2007. Originally appeared in ''Wildflower: North America's Magazine of Wild Flora'', Autumn 1993. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Alexander Canadian gardeners Canadian garden writers Canadian community activists Canadian horticulturists Landscape and garden designers American expatriates in Canada 1953 births 1993 deaths Writers from Toronto Urban theorists Canadian gay writers AIDS-related deaths in Canada People from Ottawa, Illinois 20th-century Canadian botanists 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people