Botanical gardens and arboretums in Ontario

Greater Toronto Area

Toronto Botanical Garden

Featuring over a dozen award-winning themed gardens, the Toronto Botanical Garden is designed to educate and inspire visitors with beautiful horticultural displays and regularly scheduled workshops.

Check out what’s in bloom among thousands of flowers across almost two hectares of the garden. Plan a garden tour or enjoy outdoor music performances, such as the Edwards Summer Music Series.

Stroll through Edwards Gardens, which is adjacent to the Toronto Botanical Garden. This former estate garden boasts walking trails, rock gardens and beautiful blooms, including rhododendrons and roses.

The garden is open daily from dawn until dusk and admission is free. Guided tours are offered for a fee from mid-May through early October. Paid parking is available on-site.

Location: 777 Lawrence Avenue East, North York

Allan Gardens Conservatory

Founded in 1858, Allan Gardens is one of Toronto’s oldest public parks. It features five cast-iron and glass greenhouses that contain 1,500 square metres of rare and exotic plants from around the world.

Admire the prominent display of striking cacti and succulents, and discover a tropical oasis featuring hibiscus, green jade vine, orchids and bromeliads, as well as fragrant greenery, alongside a koi pond.

Admission is free, and the garden is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., year-round.

Location: 160 Gerrard Street East, Toronto

Rosetta McClain Gardens

This fully accessible garden park, featuring braille signage, boasts a curved pergola, an intimate gazebo, raised stone planters, an aromatic rose garden, and a rock fountain. Its brimming floral arrangements make the garden a popular spot for birds and butterflies. Situated on top of the Scarborough Bluffs, you’ll also be treated to great views of Lake Ontario.

Admission is free, and the park is open year-round. There is a parking lot on-site.

Please note that dogs are not allowed at this park; service animals are exempt.

Location: 5 Glen Everest Road, Scarborough

Toronto Music Garden

Located along Toronto’s inner harbour, this horticultural gem blends botany with Bach, resulting in one of Toronto’s most whimsical attractions. The undulating, swirling and lively garden design corresponds to the six movements of Bach’s First Suite in G Major, for Unaccompanied Cello.

Admission is free, and the park is open year-round.

Location: 479 Queens Quay West, Toronto

Centennial Park Conservatory

A west-end attraction featuring three greenhouses showcasing over 200 varieties of cacti, succulents, and tropical plants, including palms and fruit trees. Additionally, special seasonal displays can be found in the North Wing greenhouse.

Open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., year-round. Admission is free, and parking is available on-site.

Location: 151 Elmcrest Road, Etobicoke

Public Gardens at Evergreen Brick Works

Nestled in Toronto’s Don Valley, this former quarry and brick factory has been transformed into a cultural hub that celebrates the revitalization of industrial sites into vibrant, green and sustainable community spaces.

Each garden at Evergreen Brick Works aims to make a positive impact on the local community. The food garden provides fresh produce, while the pollinator garden fosters biodiversity. Experience a strong connection with nature at Koerner Gardens and The Healing Gardens.

Free, self-guided audio tours are available and a farmers’ market is held on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. throughout the year.

Admission is free, and the gardens are open daily. Evergreen Brick Works is easily accessible by public transit, bike or walking trails and there is on-site parking available.

Location: 550 Bayview Avenue, Toronto

Aga Khan Park

The formal landscape surrounding the Aga Khan Museum and Ismaili Centre was designed by renowned landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic, who drew inspiration from Persian and Mughal-style gardens. Clean lines, reflecting pools, rows of trees and cedar hedges, stone features and the mix of manicured and wild lawns strike the perfect balance between the natural and the constructed.

Stroll along the two-kilometre walking path and enjoy a moment of peace and tranquillity amidst a busy urban setting. Guided tours of the park are also available.

The gardens are open daily and admission is free. There is paid parking available on-site.

Location: 77 Wynford Drive, North York

High Park Gardens

Toronto’s largest public park features numerous themed gardens, forested walking paths, picnic areas and a grove of Sakura cherry trees that are stunning when they blossom.

From the elaborate designs in the hillside ornamental gardens and impressive maple leaf flower bed to the serene rock gardens, formal water features and light-filled hanging garden, one could easily spend the whole day exploring this iconic west end park.

The park is open year-round, with no admission fee required to enter. There is limited parking, and no vehicle traffic is allowed on public holidays and weekends. It’s easily accessible by transit.

Location: 1873 Bloor Street West, Toronto

Brueckner Rhododendron Gardens

Lake Ontario serves as the backdrop for this seven-hectare outdoor garden, which houses one of the largest public collections of rhododendrons and azaleas in Canada. While the flowers are usually in full bloom from early May to June, you can enjoy the walking trails and lake views anytime.

Admission is free, and the gardens are open throughout the year. The gardens are accessible by Mississauga Transit from the Port Credit GO Station, with limited parking available. The gardens also connect to the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail.

Location: 660 Lakeshore Road West, Mississauga

Southwestern Ontario

Dieppe Gardens

From the flowering annuals and water feature to the military monuments and cityscape, there are year-round photo-worthy views from this riverside garden, named in honour of the Essex Scottish Regiment of Windsor, who fought in World War II in Dieppe, France.

Public and free, metered street parking is available.

Location: 78 Riverside Drive West, Windsor

Whistling Gardens

Located in Norfolk County, Whistling Gardens is a nine-hectare horticultural attraction featuring numerous accessible walking paths and North America’s most extensive public peony collection.

Tour the conifer garden, the alpine garden and a formal floral display inspired by the Palace of Versailles. Workshops, events and group tours are offered, and garden photography is encouraged.

Open from May to October. Please note that hours of operation vary throughout the season.

Location: 698 Concession 3 Townsend, Wilsonville

Huron, Perth, Waterloo and Wellington

Guelph Arboretum

Adjacent to the University of Guelph, over 160 hectares of gardens, trails, woodlands, wetlands and meadows serve as a living laboratory and perfect habitat for a variety of birds, insects, reptiles and mammals.

Learn about pollinator plants in the Gosling Wildlife Gardens, soak in the atmosphere in the Italian Garden and tour the formal English garden, which boasts many elements that revolutionized modern gardening designs. The popular Japanese garden promotes Zen and simplicity with calming water, artfully designed landscapes and ornamental plants.

Sign up for a workshop to sharpen your gardening skills.

Admission and parking are free. The grounds are open from dawn to dusk, all year round.

Location: 200 Arboretum Road, Guelph

Niagara Region

Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens

Enjoy meticulously maintained gardens featuring a formal parterre design, over 2,500 roses, dramatic tree-lined footpaths, and meandering pathways surrounding the Butterfly Conservatory.

Opened in 1936, the site is also home to an arboretum of ornamental trees and the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture. Check the Bloom Chart for what’s flowering and don’t miss the Orchid Show at Floral Showhouse and the Floral Clock, also operated by Niagara Parks.

Open year-round, admission is free for the Botanical Gardens and the Floral Clock. Tickets for the Floral Showhouse can be purchased online or in-person. Paid parking is available.

Location: 2565 Niagara River Parkway, Niagara Falls

Hamilton, Halton and Brant

Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG)

The largest botanical garden in Canada, RBG is a National Historic Site with rich natural and cultural value. While headquartered in Burlington, the over 1,000 hectares of protected land, formal gardens and 27 kilometres of nature trails and forest stretch to Hamilton along the slopes of the Niagara Escarpment.

Each season offers delightful scenery, unique garden events and activities, and  flowering flora.

Tickets can be purchased online or in-person. Sections of RBG are open year-round.

Location: RBG Centre and Hendrie Park are located at 680 Plains Road West, Burlington.

York, Durham and Headwaters

McMichael Canadian Collection’s Gardens

Combine love of nature and appreciation of art at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Beyond the gallery’s impressive Canadian art collection, the property extends across 40 hectares (100 acres) of forested maple, oak and pine woodland. A network of paths and hiking trails lead to the Anishinaabe Minokamik Garden, the Ivan Eyre Sculpture Garden, the Tom Thomson Shack and the McMichael Cemetery—the resting place of six of the Group of Seven members.

Paid parking is available and the grounds are open daily.

Location: 10365 Islington Avenue, Vaughan

Peony Garden in Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens

Since the donation of 100 peonies in 2001, the collection at the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens has grown to become the most significant contemporary peony collection in North America.

Explore the winding pathways and discover architectural and water features.

Over 300 varieties of Peonies bloom annually in late May through June, with the annual Peony Festival held in June.

The Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens are open year-round.

Location: 155 Arena Street, Oshawa

Southeastern Ontario

Corby Rose Garden

Everything’s coming up roses at this ornamental garden in Belleville’s Old East Village.

Donated to the city by the Corby family in 1905, heritage homes now surround the park, and the formal rows of roses around the central water fountain suit the ambiance of the neighbourhood. Summer is the best time to capture them in bloom.

Corby Park admission is free.

Location: 210 Ann Street, Belleville

Ottawa Region

Central Experimental Farm

There’s no shortage of scenic outdoor parks and glorious gardens in Canada’s capital, a city that prides itself on maintaining its green spaces.

But for a wide variety of plant diversity, garden design and postcard-perfect city views, head to the Central Experimental Farm, an operational agricultural and research facility established in 1889. The site features a tropical greenhouse, a wildlife garden, an ornamental garden and the Arboretum section, which spans over 25 hectares and comprises more than 2,000 varieties of trees and shrubs.

The garden attractions are free and open daily from dawn to dusk. The greenhouse is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Free parking is available, and the attraction is also accessible via public transportation.

Location: 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa

Make the most of your visit to Ontario’s botanical gardens and arboretums. Check in advance to see what’s blooming. Also, note that not all gardens are dog-friendly, so be sure to ask about this as well. Stay on designated walking paths and refrain from picking, pruning, eating or removing plant material.