Royal Botanical Gardens should be accessible
The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington are remarkable: about 1,000 hectares of horticultural and environmental wonders, including a huge lake and some incredibly old trees.
Yet this venerable Ontario institution is increasingly a tough sell to folks who live in Toronto.
“I hate the drive to the RBG,” grumbles one keen gardener I know. “The traffic’s terrible and everything is so spread out. I always wind up going to the wrong place.”
Me too. So at the bottom of this column, I’m including precise instructions on how to get there by car from Toronto — courtesy of the botanical gardens’ communications manager, Nick Kondrat, who lives in Mississauga and drives the route every weekday himself.
Kondrat also has promising news. The botanical gardens is working with GO Transit on a plan to make these lovely gardens easier to access without a car.
They may include a dedicated bus service that goes directly to the botanical gardens from Aldershot GO station (a stop on the TorontoHamilton route). Cyclists will also be able to follow a route there on their bikes.
Well, hallelujah. It’s about time. Here’s why: Last year, I visited the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, a long hike from downtown Manhattan. Yet getting there was a snap. A commuter train from Grand Central deposited me right outside the entrance. Same thing happened years ago in Paris. I was able to visit an unusual public garden in the suburbs easily by public transit.
If the Americans and the French can do it, why can’t we? As GTA roads get more and more jampacked, tourist attractions like the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Toronto Botanical Garden are doomed to sparse attendance unless we stop presuming that people will always be willing to drive there.
That said, it is certainly worth checking out the Royal Botanical Gardens newly-rejuvenated Rock Garden. Millions of dollars (chipped in by the federal and provincial governments and private donors) have gone into this makeover, which has transformed a rocky hillside that was once an abandoned gravel pit.
The garden started out as a De- pression-era project in 1929 and has drawn many thousands of visitors since then. But it was showing its age: structurally unsound and in need of an environmentally-friendly tune-up.
The job took three years. Results are lovely: winding pathways, many alpine plants, fabulous old conifers to explore. And they mostly look surprisingly green, even in this sizzling summer.
In the big main building atop the hill, there’s also a welcome feature that’s often missing from botanical gardens: a decent licensed restaurant open from 11:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. After touring a garden on foot, who wants to settle for a slice of crummy pizza at some standup snack bar? Not me. Lemon ricotta pancakes dished up by the Royal Botanical Gardens’ new celebrity chef, Stephanie Brewster (who’s appeared on the Food Network), plus a glass of wine and somewhere cool and comfy to sit sounds like just the ticket. Bring them on.
Getting to the Rock Garden: Take the westbound QEW. Past Burlington, exit on to Highway 403 West, towards Hamilton. Watch for the first exit, called 78 Waterdown Rd. Go 800 metres south on Waterdown to Plains Road W. Turn right (not left towards the main centre.) Go 4 kilometres. Plains Rd. becomes York Blvd. The Rock Garden is on the right. Park across the street. www.soniaday.com