The most stunning gardens to visit across Canada this summer

With temperatures steadily rising, you may have found yourself dreaming about taking a cross-country drive or a few relaxing day trips. But have you considered adding a public garden to your summer itinerary? There are some truly unique green spaces opening up for the season across Canada right now, offering visitors the increasingly rare chance to slow down and unwind.

These stunning gardens can also provide opportunities to explore native plants, sustainable horticulture and the important role of pollinators — information you can take home to your own backyard.

Read on for some highlights of the bigger — and most beautiful — garden experiences across Canada. Then, check out their websites to confirm when they open for the season, and learn about tours, special events and what will be in bloom during your visit.

British Columbia

The Butchart Gardens

Brentwood Bay, B.C.

Paid entry

According to its website, over one million visitors head to the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island each year. This horticultural hotspot is over 120 years old and is renowned for its vibrant, Instagram-worthy blooms spread across 22 hectares.

The Sunken Garden, planted in an old limestone quarry, is particularly popular. It contains 151 flower beds and winding paths throughout, and the dahlia border is known to be resplendent in autumn.

The Gardens at Horticulture Centre of the Pacific

Victoria

Paid entry

There are a number of themed spaces in this peaceful, three-hectare horticulture centre located just outside of Victoria. Among them are the largest outdoor bonsai garden in Canada; a bridal-themed garden; a birds, bees and butterflies garden; and a children's garden with hands-on educational experiences. If you happen to be there in August, the gardens will also be hosting an arts and music festival. 

UBC Botanical Garden

Vancouver

Paid entry

Established in 1916, this is Canada's oldest university botanical garden. While the original purpose of the space was to research the native flora of B.C., it has since expanded to include a variety of gardens, including a meadow and woodland garden, and a food garden with edible crops. 

Another highlight is the Greenheart TreeWalk. Featuring a series of suspended walkways, it takes you around 20 metres above the forest floor into the canopy of Vancouver's coastal temperate rainforest. 

Alberta

Muttart Conservatory

Edmonton

Paid entry

The four glass pyramids in this Edmonton conservatory contain over 700 types of plants (one of Canada's largest indoor plant collections!), and they're a perfect escape on a day with inclement weather. There's a different biome in each of the three of the buildings — temperate, arid and tropical — and the fourth features rotating exhibitions.

University of Alberta Botanic Garden

Parkland County, Alta.

Paid entry

Located just 15 minutes southwest of Edmonton, this 97-hectare property is the largest public garden in the province. Visitors can explore a variety of spaces, including the Indigenous Peoples Garden, which features a variety of plants that have been traditionally used for medicine, ornamentation and food. 

Other highlights include the Kurimoto Japanese Garden — complete with its own teahouse — and the Aga Khan Garden, which was inspired by Islamic architecture and landscapes.

Saskatchewan

Patterson Garden Arboretum

Saskatoon

Free entry

This University of Saskatchewan garden is in plant hardiness zone 3b, meaning the average minimum winter temperatures range from –37.2°C to –34.5°C. The climate here really tests the limits of woody plant species, seeing what can survive the coldest days of the year — and long, hot days of summer sun.

The arboretum also serves as a conservation area for Saskatchewan's native plants, as well as various endangered and threatened tree species in Canada and other parts of the world.

Manitoba

Assiniboine Park Conservancy

Winnipeg

Paid entry

This enormous property features six main gardens and a free hop-on, hop-off trolley that helps visitors get around the 160-hectare setting. It'll also take you to the Assiniboine Park Zoo, with its international polar bear conservation centre, and the Leaf, an indoor horticultural experience where you can explore four different biomes — and see Canada's tallest indoor waterfall.

Ontario

Royal Botanical Gardens

Hamilton and Burlington

Paid entry (one admission to all gardens)

Canada's largest botanical garden covers roughly 850 hectares throughout Hamilton and Burlington, and contains ornamental spaces and nature sanctuaries.

Hendrie Park, accessed via the RBG Centre, is home to a recently renovated rose garden showcasing varieties suited to Ontario's climate, as well as a healing garden, lily collection and medieval garden. Farther down the road, the David Braley and Nancy Gordon Rock Garden highlights various perennials and conifers. 

Toronto Botanical Garden

Toronto

Free entry

It's very easy to forget that you're in the middle of the largest city in Canada when you visit the Toronto Botanical Garden, which features 18 different points of interest to explore. The entry garden walk, designed by renowned Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, showcases a beautiful amalgam of perennials in various heights and textures, while the demonstration courtyard offers gardening workshops to visitors young and old.

The botanical garden also has extensive programming throughout the year, including summer concerts, guided tours and a weekly farmer's market. 

Whistling Gardens

Wilsonville, Ont.

Paid entry

Located down a rural road in Norfolk County in southwestern Ontario, this nearly nine-hectare garden used to be a cornfield and is now home to around 1,300 varieties of peonies.

It also spotlights impressive collections of conifers, irises and other perennials, and a grand water theatre inspired by André Le Nôtre's 1634 design for the grounds at the Palace of Versailles, where guests can watch fountain shows choreographed to music. 

Quebec

Reford Gardens (Jardins de Métis)

Grand-Métis, Que.

Paid entry

Located on 18 hectares of land along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, this national historic site is one of the most northern gardens in North America. There are two parts to this experience: the gardens first created by Elsie Reford — which are known for their Himalayan blue poppies — and gardens that are part of the International Garden Festival, an event that challenges designers and architects to create thought-provoking installations inspired by a common theme.

New Brunswick

Kingsbrae Garden

St. Andrews, N.B.

Paid entry

If you're heading to St. Andrews by-the-Sea, be sure to visit this 11-hectare attraction featuring over 50,000 perennials. Many themed spaces await, including a children's fantasy garden with a rabbit condo. A sculpture garden also highlights works by past artists in residence and other Canadian artists.

New Brunswick Botanical Garden

Edmundston, N.B.

Paid entry

Situated along the Madawaska River, this eight-hectare property contains a variety of themed gardens. Stop in at the herbalist shop in the medicinal and aromatic plants garden; explore the rose garden, which blooms almost all summer long; and keep an eye out for the mosaïculture structures (geometric forms filled with plants) scattered throughout — you may spot a greenery-filled Canada goose or 12-foot-tall horse. 

Newfoundland

Memorial University Botanical Garden

St. John's

Paid entry

Dedicated to research and education, this nearly 45-hectare space also functions as an outdoor classroom — so don't be surprised if you spot university students and professors meandering around. 

Besides visiting the cultivated area with its themed gardens, you can also hike the property's three-and-a-half kilometres of trails that take visitors through various ecosystems, like bogs and boreal forest. To see things from a different viewpoint, rent a kayak and paddle across Oxen Pond.

Nova Scotia

Halifax Public Gardens

Halifax

Free entry

If you happen to be in downtown Halifax, stroll through this six-and-a-half-hectare national historic site where you'll see carpet beds and other features of Victorian-era gardens. You may even be able to catch a summer concert at the bandstand, which dates back to 1887.

Consider planning your visit around when the dahlias will be in bloom (typically from mid-summer to mid-autumn). Some of the varieties were bred in Atlantic Canada.

Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens

Annapolis Royal, N.S.

Paid entry

This nearly seven-hectare property is both a garden and a history lesson, featuring a recreated 17th-century Acadian house and a knot garden, which is a type of garden design that dates back to 16th-century England. Don't miss the rose maze, or the property's impressive rose collection featuring hundreds of cultivars.