If your travels will be taking you into or out of Canada via the border crossing near Niagara Falls, you may want to plan a stop at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG). The Gardens are located on the border of Burlington, and Hamilton, in Ontario. At less than 50 miles from Niagara Falls the natural beauty and inspiration you’ll get from a visit to the RBG is a great reason to add it to your travel itinerary if your visiting the falls.

Begin your tour of the gardens at the RBG Visitor Centre. RBG Centre is the headquarters and information center and includes greenhouses, special collections and floral displays, both indoors and out. The Centre is on the same latitude as Marseilles, on France’s Mediterranean coast, and has a grand display under glass of the world’s five Mediterranean climate zones: the Mediterranean Basin, Cape Province South Africa, south and southwest Australia, central Chile and southern California.

Other gardens of interest in the Centre include: January to April, the Spring Bulb Display, April to September the Cactus and Succulent Plant Collection, April to September Geranium (Pelargonium) and English Ivy (Hedera helix) Collection, and the Interior Plant Display on exhibit year-round, showcases a variety of plants that help clean our indoor air and beautify our interiors.

If you love orchids you won’t want to miss the year-round orchid display. This collection focuses on orchids from the New World, those species native to North and South America, with other species and cultivars used to supplement the floral display.

Seasonal displays abound, during September to November you’ll find creative displays filled with chrysanthemums, pumpkins and other fall decorations. Late November to January the Centre is turned into a holiday extravaganza of plants and decorating ideas. The display greenhouse features labeled poinsettia cultivars and other holiday plants surrounding a huge central tree made up entirely of poinsettias.

Outside gardens will leave you filled with the inspiration to return home and renew and renovate your landscape. If you love roses than the Hendrie Park Gardens will be a must see. Filled with roses, medicinal plants, scented plants, lilies, climbers and espaliers, woodland plants and many smaller feature gardens. New to the gardens in 2008 is the Helen M. Kippax Wild Plant Garden. This garden showcases native plants, and the importance of maintaining plant biodiversity, and sustainable gardening techniques.

Other outdoor gardens include, The Laking Garden featuring irises, perennials, peonies, daylilies, ornamental grasses and the Heritage Garden. The Rock Garden features a spring bulb display, summer annuals, flowering cherries, azaleas and many unusual trees and shrubs. The Arboretum features lilacs, rhododendrons, magnolias, flowering shrubs, trees, Ontario native trees and shrubs, conifers, native plants, hedges, dogwoods and redbuds, hawthorns, flowering crabapples and the Maze.

The Gardens are continually featuring art exhibits, as well as educational and entertaining events throughout the year. For more information visit: https://www.rbg.ca/