See the Hendrie Park Collection Map Virtual Tours: Tour Hendrie Park Gardens. Plant collections: Rose Garden Medicinal Garden Small-flowered Clematis Garden Lily (Lilium) Collection Scented Garden Thyme Garden The World of Botany Vines, Climbers and Espaliers Kids' Gardening Zone The Morrison Woodland Garden Border Buffet Annual Trials and Displays Queen Beatrix Narcissus Collection Collection of Canadian-Originated Trees Rose Garden Peak interest: June to October The Centennial Rose Garden, opened in 1967, contains about 2,000 modern hybrid roses and 650 shrub roses arranged to reflect the highlights of rose breeding. It includes old garden roses, modern garden roses, modern shrub roses and miniature roses. Climbing roses are included with other climbing plants on the pergola, and the Rose Walk showcases low maintenance roses with companion plants, and their versatility in the home landscape. Back to Top Medicinal Garden Peak interest: April to October Think of the medication you and your family use in a single year. Have you taken codeine to stop a cough? ASA to ease a headache? Digoxin for heart problems? These are among the many prescribed medications that are derived from plants. Each bed in this garden focuses on a particular part of the human body, with plants arranged by the disease they treat. Interpretive materials examine not only the plants and the medicines they yield, but also the health implications of the loss of wild plant species and habitat. Visitors can compare medicinal herbs from various cultures, and see the sources of both ancient traditional medicines and the compounds used in current medical research. The Medicinal Garden is supported by Ontario 2000 and the Department of Canadian Heritage—Museums Assistance Program. Back to Top Small-Flowered Clematis (Currently closed, this collection is being evaluated, re-designed and re-located) The collection was developed with the assistance of Mrs. C. W. Harvey of Kitchener. Back to Top Garden Lily (Lilium) Collection Peak interest: June to August Growing lilies 50 years ago was a real challenge, but thanks to the efforts of plant breeders, Canadian gardeners now have a wide selection of easily grown, hardier and more disease-resistant cultivars. Our collection contains many lily cultivars, Canadian hybrids and other new or superior lily cultivars. A bed of shade-loving lilies has recently been added. This collection features the martagon hybrid lilies (Lilium martagon) as well as two Ontario-native lilies (Lilium michiganense and Lilium canadense) that grow up to two metres tall. This collection was developed with the help of the Ontario Regional Lily Society, who continue to play an active role in its ongoing management. Back to Top Scented Garden Peak interest: April to October Plant scents touch our lives in many ways. They not only arouse our memory—lilacs are the essence of spring, and fresh-mown hay means the height of summer—but we have long used plants to add fragrance to ourselves and our homes. The Scented Garden explores the range of scents that plants produce and include plants with scented flowers as well as scented, "scratch and sniff" leaves. Back to Top Thyme Garden Peak interest: April to October This garden features an analemmatic sundial (the visitor casts the shadow). It is planted with flowers of the sun, flowers and plants of the moon, and lots of thyme. Plant labels identify Helianthus (from the Greek helios, sun, and anthos, a flower), Heliopsis (opsis, resembling), daisies (the medieval "day's eye") and many different thymes (Thymus). We gratefully acknowledge the support of The Richard and Jean Ivey Fund, London, Ontario, in the creation of the Thyme Garden and the assistance of Dr. Paul Lapp for the design and construction of the analemmatic sundial. Back to Top The World of Botany Peak interest: all year Our lives depend on plants—a link that botanical gardens help to preserve. The World of Botany makes the science of botany visible. Explore many plant relationships, including ecological, economic, geographical and genetic connections, as well as plant classification and plant families. The design is based on the first western botanical garden, developed at the university in Padua, Italy, in 1542. Back to Top Vines, Climbers and Espaliers Peak interest: all year Most climbers are plants with slender, flexible stems that begin life on the forest floor. To compete for sunlight and pollinators they use sticky cups, tiny tendrils and other special adaptive structures to help them climb up and over other plants. This collection displays the diversity of climbing plants and the adaptations that they use to reach new heights. You'll also find examples of espaliered plants—those sculpted or trained to grow against a wall or fence. This technique can be used in any garden to pack more into less space. Back to Top Kids' Gardening Zone Peak interest: May to August Marked by a multi-colour picket fence and scarecrows, this area is home to the Gardens' gardening programs for kids. Programs like Junior Gardeners and Sow and Grow offer children of various ages the opportunity to grow vegetables and flowers in their very own garden plots. You may notice that weeding is not one of the kids' favourite activities! Back to Top The Morrison Woodland Garden Peak interest: all year Life on the forest floor is a challenge. Intense spring sun is followed by deep summer shade. Around the temperate world, Europe, Japan, and here in southern Ontario, plants adapt in similar ways. Many forest species compress their peak growth and bloom into the short period after spring thaw and before tree leaves block the sun. Later, only shade-tolerant plants (those that can photosynthesize in low light) will thrive. By July, Ontario's native woodland wildflowers have all but disappeared. To extend the seasonal interest of this garden, we display other shade-tolerant plants from the world's temperate forests. A rhododendron collection and an accessible, elevated boardwalk were recently added to this garden through a generous donation from Tina Turkstra and Dr. Carl Turkstra. A memorial donation by the family of Hamilton physician and surgeon Dr. Roy Edward Morrison, assists in the development and maintenance of this garden. Back to Top Border Buffet Peak interest: May to October This series of display beds or gardens provides a smorgasbord of ideas for homeowners interested in developing or renovating a border. The Gardens' staff, members and guest designers choose a variety of themes over the years and develop a demonstration planting around each. The border themes include a floral designer's border, a xeriscape (dry and sunny) border, a border of easy-care perennials, an autumn-flowering perennial border, a native plant border, a shade border, a pond garden and a border that features a new theme each year. Back to Top Annual Trials and Displays Peak interest: July to September See the latest (and maybe those destined to be the greatest) in annuals developed by commercial seed companies in our annual trial beds. Each year, we receive seeds of new cultivars for trial and evaluation under local conditions. Also featured are the current and recent AAS (All American Selection) winning cultivars of flowers and vegetables. Colourful displays of annuals can be found throughout the garden. Some are traditional, others are innovative and even provocative. These displays contain annual cultivars that have proven, over many years, to be superior and reliable throughout the entire summer season at the Gardens. Back to Top Queen Beatrix Narcissus Collection Peak interest: April to May This daffodil display is a living gift from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, commemorating her visit to RBG in May 1988. This collection is comprised of 3,000 bulbs including 30 cultivars with representatives of each of the 12 different horticultural classes of daffodils. Back to Top Collection of Canadian-originated Trees Peak interest: All year The Gardens continues to collect many of the varieties of cultivated plants created by Canadians. This collection contains cultivars of ornamental trees developed in Canada. Of special interest are several varieties of American elm (Ulmus americana), which are resistant to Dutch elm disease. Back to Top RBG Centre Laking Garden Rock Garden Arboretum What’s in bloom See the best blooms of the season. 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