Children’s Gardens from Coast to Coast
Get the kids involved in the garden with a family trip to a botanical garden that features a children's garden. These offer a family day of fun as well as field trips for schools to help inspire a love of nature in budding young gardeners
##BRITISH COLUMBIA##
**The VanDusen Botanical Garden**
Oak Street at West 37th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
(604) 878-9274
VanDusen Botanical Garden Located in Vancouver, this botanical garden covers over 55 acres and houses one of the largest collections of ornamental plants in Canada. Different regions of the gardens, accessible by numerous pathways, showcase plants from different regions of the world. The children’s garden features an Elizabethan-style hedge maze and sculpted topiaries to awe and inspire the little ones. **Tofino Botanical Gardens**
1084 Pacific Rim Hwy
Tofino, BC
(250) 725-1220
Tofino Botanical Gardens Twelve acres of forest, gardens and shoreline that bridges the connection between nature and culture make up the magnificent series of gardens. Included along with the children’s garden here are kitchen gardens, Frog Pond, and smaller pocket gardens have been planted into the forests’ natural clearings. Some plantings in these gardens come from around the world while others celebrate the heritage of the native peoples that have made the area their home. **Darts Hill Garden Park**
16th and 170th
South Surrey, BC
(604) 542 3003 (ask for Linda)
Darts Hill Sixty years of hard work and dedication by Francisca Darts and her husband Edwin went into the creation of this award-winning garden famous for its collection of rare and unusual plants. It also houses the most diverse tree collection in the Pacific Northwest. In the spring of 2009, Darts Hill will be expanding their educational support program. With a focus on fostering a love of plants, nature and animal life in young children, the program connects kids, teachers and parents with trained guides to take them through the garden and help enrich the classroom curriculum. **Glendale Gardens and Woodlands**
505 Quayle Road
Victoria, BC
(250) 479-6162
Glendale Gardens and Woodlands Inspire the senses in this garden meant for the little ones located down the steps from the rotunda at Glendale Gardens. Bean tents give children places to play hide and seek in. Flowers of all shapes and sizes deliver a sense of wonder including blue bells and cockle shells reminiscent of nursery rhymes. Breathe in and pick up the scents of sweet peas, peanut butter plants and strawberry plants. Vegetable beds allow children to taste the produce, help weed and learn about growing vegetables. Parents and grandparents can sit back while the kids are free to explore.
##YUKON TERRITORY##
**Yukon Best Practise**
67 Pelly Rd
Whitehorse, Yukon
(867) 393-4661
Yukon Best Childcare Yukon Best Childcare established two gardens, a vegetable garden and herb garden, for kids to help care for in order to teach them about the environment, nurturing and planting. Kids help care for seedlings after they are planted with a regular routine of weeding and watering. Along with regular work in the garden, kids are also taken on nature walks and are encouraged to keep naturalist notebooks to keep track of their findings. ##ALBERTA## **Wild Woods – School Garden and Natural Area**
4411 Spruce Drive SW
Calgary, Alberta This garden is a teaching area at the Wildwood Elementary School. The garden is a small area fit for young students to explore. An area is planted each spring with crops by first grade students and then harvested the year after by the same students. **Devonian Botanical Gardens**
8 Ave. and 3 St. SW
Calgary, Alberta
(403) 268-3888
Devonian Botanical Gardens Formerly the University of Alberta Botanical Garden, the indoor garden covers 2.5 acres and includes as their main features a large alpine garden and an herb garden. Along with the children’s garden located within are a number of other themed gardens including a Native Peoples of Alberta garden, a Japanese garden and a Garden for the Handicapped. Educational programs are available for school field trips to help children learn about the environment. ##ONTARIO## **The Children's Garden at High Park**
1873 Bloor St. West
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 392-1329
High Park The Children’s Garden program operating in two locations at High Park and the Waterfront gives children and their families the chance to take part in hands-on organic gardening experiences including planting, maintenance and composting. The wheel-chair accessible High Park location offers field trip programs for schools that include activities such as plant identification, soil investigation, scavenger hunts, bug hunts, drama and music at a cost of $5 per child. **The Franklin Children’s Garden — Centre Island**
Centre Island
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 338-0338
Franklin Children's Garden Inspired by Franklin the Turtle of the beloved book series by Paulette Bourgeois, the garden is a fun and interactive way for kids to learn about nature. Kids can dig in the dirt to find out how plants grow, listen in on free storytelling, play hide and seek in a vine tunnel, explore a tree house and visit the bronze statue of Franklin and Rabbit. A pond with turtles, frogs and birds give kids the chance to also learn about wetland wildlife. **The Teaching Garden at Edwards Gardens (Toronto Botanical Gardens)**
777 Lawrence Ave. E.
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 397-1340
Toronto Botanical Gardens Offering recreational and school programs since 1998, the Teaching Garden’s aim is to stimulate kids’ curiosity about nature with hands-on experience. The garden features demonstrative plots including a vegetable patch sown and harvested by children with the produce donated to the North York Harvest Food Bank. Other great and unique plots include the Alphabet Garden featuring plants with names beginning with every letter of the alphabet, the Sensory Garden that give kids the chance to explore with all of their senses, a Dinosaur Garden featuring prehistoric plants, and the Spiral Butterfly garden that features a large sundial to teach kids about how the sun’s movements affects plants. ##QUEBEC## **Youth Gardens – The Montreal Botanical Garden**
4101, rue Sherbrooke Est
Montreal, Quebec
(514) 872-1400
Montreal Botanical Garden For $15 for a season, kids and teens 8-15 years old are given their own 2 m x 4 m plot to grow and harvest their own vegetables and herbs. Kids are encouraged to maintain their small gardens throughout the growing seasons. In April, the kids start in the Botanical Gardens greenhouses planting vegetable seeds. During May and June, the seedlings and individual plots are cared for and planting begins. Throughout the summer, kids spend two and a half days a week caring for their gardens. Instructors are available to help out and kids are separated into groups by age 8-11 or 12-15 so they can work along new friends their age. Finally, in September, kids return to harvest the last of their crops and will receive a diploma during an awards ceremony. ##NEW BRUNSWICK## **Children’s Fantasy Garden – Kingsbrae Garden**
220 King Street
St. Andrews, NB
(506) 529 3335
Kingsbrae Garden Created on the grounds of a number of old estates incorporating an Acadian forest, cedar hedges and a number of flower beds, Kingsbrae Garden is an award-winning 27 acre botanical masterpiece. A number of themed gardens (including a White Garden modeled after the garden in Sissinghurst Castle in England) are prevalent throughout the garden along with the Children’s Fantasy Garden offering free activities for kids under 12 throughout the summer. ##PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND## **Woodleigh Replicas and Gardens**
RR#2 Kensington
Burlington, PEI
(902) 836-3401
A British theme park covering 45 acres of countryside, the garden houses 30 different replicas of spectacular castles and cathedrals originally found throughout the British Isles. Most of the grounds are devoted to gardens with English cottage-style beds surrounded by these replicas. Newer introductions to the garden are, along with a Children’s Garden, the Scented Walkway and the Shakespeare Bed.
Oak Street at West 37th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
(604) 878-9274
VanDusen Botanical Garden Located in Vancouver, this botanical garden covers over 55 acres and houses one of the largest collections of ornamental plants in Canada. Different regions of the gardens, accessible by numerous pathways, showcase plants from different regions of the world. The children’s garden features an Elizabethan-style hedge maze and sculpted topiaries to awe and inspire the little ones. **Tofino Botanical Gardens**
1084 Pacific Rim Hwy
Tofino, BC
(250) 725-1220
Tofino Botanical Gardens Twelve acres of forest, gardens and shoreline that bridges the connection between nature and culture make up the magnificent series of gardens. Included along with the children’s garden here are kitchen gardens, Frog Pond, and smaller pocket gardens have been planted into the forests’ natural clearings. Some plantings in these gardens come from around the world while others celebrate the heritage of the native peoples that have made the area their home. **Darts Hill Garden Park**
16th and 170th
South Surrey, BC
(604) 542 3003 (ask for Linda)
Darts Hill Sixty years of hard work and dedication by Francisca Darts and her husband Edwin went into the creation of this award-winning garden famous for its collection of rare and unusual plants. It also houses the most diverse tree collection in the Pacific Northwest. In the spring of 2009, Darts Hill will be expanding their educational support program. With a focus on fostering a love of plants, nature and animal life in young children, the program connects kids, teachers and parents with trained guides to take them through the garden and help enrich the classroom curriculum. **Glendale Gardens and Woodlands**
505 Quayle Road
Victoria, BC
(250) 479-6162
Glendale Gardens and Woodlands Inspire the senses in this garden meant for the little ones located down the steps from the rotunda at Glendale Gardens. Bean tents give children places to play hide and seek in. Flowers of all shapes and sizes deliver a sense of wonder including blue bells and cockle shells reminiscent of nursery rhymes. Breathe in and pick up the scents of sweet peas, peanut butter plants and strawberry plants. Vegetable beds allow children to taste the produce, help weed and learn about growing vegetables. Parents and grandparents can sit back while the kids are free to explore.
(continued below)
67 Pelly Rd
Whitehorse, Yukon
(867) 393-4661
Yukon Best Childcare Yukon Best Childcare established two gardens, a vegetable garden and herb garden, for kids to help care for in order to teach them about the environment, nurturing and planting. Kids help care for seedlings after they are planted with a regular routine of weeding and watering. Along with regular work in the garden, kids are also taken on nature walks and are encouraged to keep naturalist notebooks to keep track of their findings. ##ALBERTA## **Wild Woods – School Garden and Natural Area**
4411 Spruce Drive SW
Calgary, Alberta This garden is a teaching area at the Wildwood Elementary School. The garden is a small area fit for young students to explore. An area is planted each spring with crops by first grade students and then harvested the year after by the same students. **Devonian Botanical Gardens**
8 Ave. and 3 St. SW
Calgary, Alberta
(403) 268-3888
Devonian Botanical Gardens Formerly the University of Alberta Botanical Garden, the indoor garden covers 2.5 acres and includes as their main features a large alpine garden and an herb garden. Along with the children’s garden located within are a number of other themed gardens including a Native Peoples of Alberta garden, a Japanese garden and a Garden for the Handicapped. Educational programs are available for school field trips to help children learn about the environment. ##ONTARIO## **The Children's Garden at High Park**
1873 Bloor St. West
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 392-1329
High Park The Children’s Garden program operating in two locations at High Park and the Waterfront gives children and their families the chance to take part in hands-on organic gardening experiences including planting, maintenance and composting. The wheel-chair accessible High Park location offers field trip programs for schools that include activities such as plant identification, soil investigation, scavenger hunts, bug hunts, drama and music at a cost of $5 per child. **The Franklin Children’s Garden — Centre Island**
Centre Island
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 338-0338
Franklin Children's Garden Inspired by Franklin the Turtle of the beloved book series by Paulette Bourgeois, the garden is a fun and interactive way for kids to learn about nature. Kids can dig in the dirt to find out how plants grow, listen in on free storytelling, play hide and seek in a vine tunnel, explore a tree house and visit the bronze statue of Franklin and Rabbit. A pond with turtles, frogs and birds give kids the chance to also learn about wetland wildlife. **The Teaching Garden at Edwards Gardens (Toronto Botanical Gardens)**
777 Lawrence Ave. E.
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 397-1340
Toronto Botanical Gardens Offering recreational and school programs since 1998, the Teaching Garden’s aim is to stimulate kids’ curiosity about nature with hands-on experience. The garden features demonstrative plots including a vegetable patch sown and harvested by children with the produce donated to the North York Harvest Food Bank. Other great and unique plots include the Alphabet Garden featuring plants with names beginning with every letter of the alphabet, the Sensory Garden that give kids the chance to explore with all of their senses, a Dinosaur Garden featuring prehistoric plants, and the Spiral Butterfly garden that features a large sundial to teach kids about how the sun’s movements affects plants. ##QUEBEC## **Youth Gardens – The Montreal Botanical Garden**
4101, rue Sherbrooke Est
Montreal, Quebec
(514) 872-1400
Montreal Botanical Garden For $15 for a season, kids and teens 8-15 years old are given their own 2 m x 4 m plot to grow and harvest their own vegetables and herbs. Kids are encouraged to maintain their small gardens throughout the growing seasons. In April, the kids start in the Botanical Gardens greenhouses planting vegetable seeds. During May and June, the seedlings and individual plots are cared for and planting begins. Throughout the summer, kids spend two and a half days a week caring for their gardens. Instructors are available to help out and kids are separated into groups by age 8-11 or 12-15 so they can work along new friends their age. Finally, in September, kids return to harvest the last of their crops and will receive a diploma during an awards ceremony. ##NEW BRUNSWICK## **Children’s Fantasy Garden – Kingsbrae Garden**
220 King Street
St. Andrews, NB
(506) 529 3335
Kingsbrae Garden Created on the grounds of a number of old estates incorporating an Acadian forest, cedar hedges and a number of flower beds, Kingsbrae Garden is an award-winning 27 acre botanical masterpiece. A number of themed gardens (including a White Garden modeled after the garden in Sissinghurst Castle in England) are prevalent throughout the garden along with the Children’s Fantasy Garden offering free activities for kids under 12 throughout the summer. ##PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND## **Woodleigh Replicas and Gardens**
RR#2 Kensington
Burlington, PEI
(902) 836-3401
A British theme park covering 45 acres of countryside, the garden houses 30 different replicas of spectacular castles and cathedrals originally found throughout the British Isles. Most of the grounds are devoted to gardens with English cottage-style beds surrounded by these replicas. Newer introductions to the garden are, along with a Children’s Garden, the Scented Walkway and the Shakespeare Bed.
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