Hendrie Park / RBG Centre

Surrounded by the ever-changing blooms of Hendrie Park, the tea house offers the ideal spot to relax in nature’s tranquility while enjoying afternoon tea or lunch.

Reservations are required.

The new Rose Garden features a spectacular display of roses and companion plants intended to extend seasonal interest and keep diseases at bay. Our focus is on disease resistant, disease-tolerant and cold-hardy roses, including Canadian introductions. We’re excited to present an innovative, sustainable and inspiring experience, the quintessential rose garden for Canada’s largest botanical garden.

The indoor Mediterranean Garden is flourishing, with new plant arrivals transforming the space into a botanical dream! You’ll find familiar flora alongside new accessions that bring depth and diversity to our growing collection.

In 2013 Dan Lawrie, Hamilton businessman and Burlington resident, made a 10-year commitment to donating sculpture to Royal Botanical Gardens which has created The International Sculpture Collection.

Through Dan’s generosity, this permanent collection grows in Hendrie Park each year, with the addition of new works from around the world.

An avenue of Chinese Flowering Dogwood (Cornus kousa) leads you to the Scented Garden, with its traditional stone walls, gravel paths, boxwood edging, and cooling central fountain.

The Scented Garden explores the range of scents through annuals, perennials and shrubs that produce scented flowers as well as scented, “scratch and sniff” leaves.

Bounded on three sides by the natural lands of the Grindstone Creek Valley, this garden features native trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses along with their cultivars to add extra colour. Over 135 native species are displayed in plant community zones that represent several local habitats including prairie, oak savannah, Carolinian forest and wetland pond.

The Helen M. Kippax Wild Plant Garden was opened in 2008 thanks to the generosity of Mary Stedman and her late sisters Margaret and Ruth to celebrate their aunt, Helen M. Kippax, one of the founding members of the Canadian Society for Landscape Architecture. The garden was designed to display how native plants bring beauty, ecological function, biodiversity and sustainability to gardens. In the context of this garden, Royal Botanical Gardens defines a native species as one that was present in Ontario prior to the arrival of European colonists in the 18th century.

The garden was originally designed by Martin Wade Landscape Architects in consultation with native plant gardening advocate and author, Lorraine Johnson.

Explore the connections between people and healing plants from around the world, from traditional remedies to leading-edge drugs in the Healing Garden. Our collection of medicinal plants has undergone a full metamorphosis, and the space has been reconfigured and enlarged, expanding display room.

Discover how plants heal us and give life through this in-depth look into each plant’s role in supporting wellness and understand why 80% of the world’s medicines have their ‘roots’ in plants. Each of the 12 garden beds focuses on different plants that are used to treat ailments in specific bodily systems. Learn about the healing power of plants from head to toe!

Offering a beautiful selection of merchandise as diverse as our gardens, the Garden Shop features an ever-changing selection of unique items for that special gift.  Many of our products showcase the talents of local artisans.

Step into the Greenhouse Café and enjoy a fresh, seasonal menu inspired by vibrant garden flavours. From delicious pizzas like the savory Calabrese or veggie-packed Giardino, to hearty hot paninis and comforting soups and salads, there’s something for every taste.

Opened in 2013 thanks to a generous donation from the Auxiliary of RBG, the Natural Playground is a place where children of any age can get outside and play. Outdoor activities build healthy minds and bodies, but research shows that today’s children spend far too little time outside. With that in mind, we have created a play space that supports gross- and fine-motor skill development, imaginative cooperative play, multi-sensory experiential learning, and good old-fashioned fun.