Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) is Canada’s largest botanical garden and one of the country’s premier cultural, education and scientific institutions. It has extensive educational programs and serves as an outdoor laboratory for scientific research.


RBG was established as an independent entity in 1941 by an act of the provincial government, but the project traces its origins to the late 1920s when the City of Hamilton began acquiring land for the beautification of the city’s northwest entrance. Of the Gardens’ 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres), about 120 hectares (297 acres) are cultivated, while the rest remains a managed natural area. The glory of the Arboretum is the Katie Osborne Lilac Garden, which boasts the world’s largest living collection of lilacs.

Royal Botanical Gardens is the only Canadian botanical garden to have maintained consistent growth and development. Moreover, it is the result of the joint effort of talented landscape architects, botanists and plan curators, thereby reflecting a historical and aesthetic character that is distinct in Canada.

ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS
680 Plains Road West
Hamilton/Burlington ON L7T 4H4
Canada

This is a magnificent garden located near Lake Ontario in Hamilton, Canada. There are many nice collections but the key area (for me anyway) was the sunken garden. Paths descend down into what I guess was a former gravel pit or stone quarry. Every few feet you are presented with a new vista and a new vantage point from which to view the plants below.

This is a nice place to combine with a visit to the beautiful city of Toronto (see Casa Loma) which is only about 26 miles away. To the south about 30 or 40 miles is Niagra Falls and the nearby Niagra School of Horticulture.

 
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