This is my last Canadian post and I finish with the last garden we visited at the Royal Botanic Garden in Hamilton, Ontario. The lady on the desk at the information centre (disguised as a witch!) told us that the colours there were fantastic and she was certainly correct, I think we had unknowingly saved the best till last.
As I was walking round, it was wonderful to see so much colour, shape and texture everywhere, definitely my sort of garden.
There were so many grasses, we all had a stroke of this one.
The rock garden started out as a quarry providing gravel for the railroads in the 1850s but by 1920s it was being turned into a garden. It took 3 years to plant with tiny plants which have now grown so that you can’t see the original quarry. Something so beautiful has been created out of a manmade eyesore, nature has healed over all the wounds and it is now a delight to wander through it.
There was good design leading us on down the paths.
We found a very interesting water course.
More colour and texture.
Suddenly the garden had a very Japanese flavour.
Lots of rocks were dotted around, some playing classical music!
I thought that this statue must be a buddha, but was wrong……..
…..it turned out to be a young lady.
A lovely little waterfall caught our attention, then suddenly at the side, I caught a glimpse of a chipmunk, it was too quick to photograph.
The red acer in the background was really magnificent.
As we climbed the slope we got different views of the same tree.
And were even able to look through it to a golden Acer.
A lantern at the top confirmed that it was a Japanese garden.
A lovely view from the top.
The colours in the garden were truly amazing. Canada, you lived up to expectations!
That ends our wonderful trip to Canada, the colours were everything that I had been led to believe and I certainly will always remember them as being outstanding. It was a shame that our trip was so short, but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Thank you Tim for making us so welcome and thank you Canada for putting on such a wonderful display.
Another gorgeous dose of color. I’m so glad you enjoyed your visit to Canada and were able to enjoy the wonderful fall foliage! Leaf peeping at it’s best!
I couldn’t agree more Peter, it was absolutely wonderful! I’ve been doing quite a bit of leaf peeping since I came home though, such changes while I was away.
Lovely to see such a beautiful garden despite what is probably quite a tough climate. So, in theory at least, I should be ably to acheive something similar here lol!
Absolutely Denise! They are in zone 6 if that is any help, they do have very cold winters but also very hot summers, so plants have to be tough to survive.
What amazing garden scenes. The fall colors really steal the show!
I thought for sure we would make it up to the Niagara Falls area this summer but so far it hasn’t happened. Next year for sure. I’d love to visit one or both of the RBG gardens, I’m just not sure which. To be honest until reading through your posts I didn’t even know there were two locations!
We decided that this was the best Frank, the colours were stunning.
This is the second time I have been to Niagra Falls, the previous time was with my late husband 9 yrs ago, so was a bitter sweet visit for me.
I have the RBG leaflet in front of me and they have 5 locations, all between 1km and 7 km drive apart. Best to go to the main entrance at 680 Plains Rd, W.Burlington, ON and pick up a leaflet to decide which area you want to visit. The “witch” behind the desk was very helpful, telling us which areas had the most colour at the time of our visit. I can certainly recommend it!
Thanks for the tips, that will be exactly what we do!
Glad to have been of help Frank. I will look forward to reading a post about seeing the gardens through your eyes sometime in the future!
Gorgeous, but having just read your ‘back home’ post, so are yours! 😀
They were stunning, the whole garden looked fantastic, and so neat and tidy!
That acer is simply divine, so fluffy and vibrant, loved the view from the top too, simply stunning autumn colour. Just beautiful, I did enjoy all these pics.xxx
The views were amazing Dina, the design of the planting meant we could see through to other areas, which of course made us want to explore further.
Your photos are stunning…. Im going to have to go there with Tim as I’ve never been there and experience this myself…… Ive heard there are birds you can feed on your hand…. Now thats what im looking for….
Glad you like the photos Katrina, it certainly was a fantastic garden with wonderful colours and textures. you would love it. We didn’t see any birds, probably making too much noise chatting, but did see a chipmunk dashing across the soil by the waterfall!