Royal Botanical Gardens: Hamilton's Horticultural Attraction.
The Royal Botanical Gardens at Hamilton are a series of gardens, rose garden, spring garden, arboretum, and rock garden, some set in the natural woodlands of Hendrie Park and all in woodlands along the sides of small lakes and a creek valley. Each garden, however, is also individually spaced along a few kilometres or so of road -- Plains Road for the most part, on the border between Hamilton and the city of Burlington. The Arboretum is farther west, off the Old Guelph Road. A shuttle bus, free with your admission (of $10 for Adults, $7 for Seniors), runs every 45 mins during opening hours so you don't need to drive between the gardens, though you can if you wish. The Main Building, the RBG Centre, is at 680 Plains Road west, on the south side of the road. Entrance to the rose gardens, native flowers, Children's Garden, forest walk and garden, and the other gardens in Hendrie Park, is by a tunnel as they are all on the north side of Plains Road.
The Mediterranean garden is indoors (this is Canada after all) at the Main Building and comes complete with pool and very Oriental Koi. One of the things I learned in this section is just how many of our foods came originally from the Mediterranean. It makes sense. It's where we Europeans grew up, so to speak, but I hadn't realized the extent.
At present, the Royal Botanical Gardens are featuring a
Wollemi Pine,
(you can see a baby one at this link) -- 'the tree that time forgot'. It's a tree that was thought to be extinct, its pollen is ubiquitous in the fossil record but not seen today, but was found recently by Australian researchers in a remote valley in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.
Near the rose gardens are the Helen M. Kippax Gardens of Canadian
wildflowers
and leading from this section is the woodland trail to the woodland gardens and the Hendrie Valley Sanctuary. You can also walk to the Laking (spring) Gardens, about 1.5 km away.
In the ornamental pools that lie between the Tunnel and the Teahouse, are many beautiful varieties of waterlily. These white and red lilies are among the them, see our
RBG photos
page for more examples.Also in this part of the Royal Botanical Gardens, are the Scented, Medicinal, and Medieval Gardens -- all providing examples of plants that their names suggest. For me, scents win out over medicines and the Middle Ages every time.
Other attractions of the Laking Gardens are the Ornamental Grasses, Hosta walk and Barbara Laking Memorial Heritage Garden with plants that the early settlers brought from their homelands and local Ontario flowers they found here, and came to love, when they arrived.
Another kilometre west of the Royal Botanical Gardens main building, where Plains Rd merges into York Boulevard, is the Rock Garden. Here you'll find spring bulbs, flowering cherry and summer annuals in great blocks of color. This too is quite seasonal, best visiting months are May and July to early September.
The Arboretum is the garden of trees. here you'll find flowering trees, hedges and avenues of shrubs and trees, and a great show of Lilacs. This means that visiting the Arboretum can be a year-round affair, from snow and ice glistening on the boughs in
winter,
to the new green and flowers of
spring,
through the flowers and shade of
summer
to the colors of
Fall.
The Arboretum also abuts the Cootes Paradise Sanctuary, another wooded area through which trails allow visitors to get close to the wildlife of southern Ontario. If you enjoy gardens and nature, you may also enjoy our Algonquin Park page. To find more about the Royal Botanical Gardens, call them at 905.527.1158 or visit their website at
www.rbg.ca
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Situated amid the Centennial Rose Garden and the Climbing Plants, is the tea house serving lunches, snacks and light meals -- and tea, of course. The prices are reasonable and the service prompt. One of the beauties of botanical gardens is they are rarely so busy that the staff can't cope.
The Laking Gardens are about 1 km west of the main building but still on Plains Rd. Here the RBG has its Iris and Peony Collections so it pays to go when those flowers are in bloom -- late May to end of June and late July to end of August. To add to the enjoyment, Laking Gardens hosts classical music and art events on Tuesdays in June and July.
