Other people’s gardens

Inspire your green thumb by visiting great public and private gardens

BY JODI DELONG

The only thing we gardening enthusiasts love more than our own gardens are what I fondly call “OPGs” or Other People’s Gardens: publicly accessible gardens around our region, some offering free admission, others open with a modest fee. From the lauded Halifax Public Gardens to the sprawling and splendid Memorial University Botanical Gardens in St. John’s, there are plenty of horticultural temptations out there. While not exhaustive, this list will tempt you to visit and learn about additional, perhaps more-hidden garden gems. Pack up your sunscreen and a beverage (or plan a picnic or meal onsite) and check these out.

New Brunswick

Kingsbrae Garden

220 King St., Saint Andrews, N.B. 866-566-8687, 506-529-3335, kingsbraegarden.com

If you’ve never visited this 11-hectare privately founded jewel in the heart of St. Andrews by-the-Sea, you are missing out on a fabulous experience. More than 50,000 plants of horticultural interest, spread out across separate garden areas or “rooms.”

A Gravel Garden, Children’s Garden, and Scents and Sensitivity Garden (for those with visual and mobile challenges), among many others, dazzle visitors. There’s also a permanent sculpture garden as well as an excellent café, gift shop and art gallery.

New Brunswick Botanical Garden

15 boulevard Isidore-Boucher, Edmundston, N.B. 506-737-4444 info@jardinNBgarden.com, jardinnbgarden.com

Open from late May to late September (check website for opening hours and admission prices.)

It’s been 30 years since this iconic and expanding public garden opened in one of the cooler regions in Atlantic Canada, not far from the New Brunswick/Quebec border. It boasts many dedicated garden areas, including for perennials, rhododendrons, alpines, roses, a potager (vegetable) garden and hiking trails. Wander through the gardens at your leisure and finish off with a picnic or a meal in the Café Flora.

New Brunswick Botanical Garden.

Photo: Tourism New Brunswick/Hemmings House

Nova Scotia

Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens

441 St. George St., Annapolis Royal, N.S. 902-532-7018 marketing@historicgardens.com historicgardens.wordpress.com

Open year-round — no admission fee in winter.

The gardens in Annapolis Royal are well described as seven hectares of paradise, and trace trends in gardening for more than 400 years of history. Constantly evolving, garden highlights include the native plant plots, the Acadian cottage and potager, the rose garden with hundreds of different cultivars, and the innovative garden which experiments with new ideas in crop production. A remarkable gift shop stocked with many local artisans, and a summer-open café, are two more reasons to spend a day in the gardens, which are also within easy walking distance of the main shopping and dining core of the town.

Halifax Public Gardens

Spring Garden Road and Summer Street, Halifax, N.S. 902-456-4552 halifaxpublicgardens.ca

Open year-round, 8 a.m. to dusk. Free admission.

Right in the heart of downtown Halifax is the jewel of the city: six-plus hectares of the Victorian-style public gardens. Founded in 1867 by the efforts of Nova Scotia politician Joe Howe, the gardens boast hundreds of shade trees, formal perennial and annual beds, a coffee shop in the Horticultural Hall, and elegant statuary and water features throughout the property. Check the website for FAQs. Jogging, cycling, and pets aren’t permitted.

Dalhousie Ag Campus Rock Garden and Alumni Gardens

Rock Garden Road, Bible Hill, N.S. dal.ca/about-dal/agricultural-campus/ about/gardens/alumni-gardens.html. Open year-round, weather permitting.

The former Nova Scotia Agricultural College became part of Dalhousie University 11 years ago, and the gardens throughout the campus have benefited greatly as a result. There are three main areas to visit: the Rock Garden, featuring many choice and unusual plants; the Alumni Garden, built on the site of a former research nursery at the campus; and the Butterfly Meadow, a 0.2-hectare site near the campus farm where plants are encouraged to grow freely and attract pollinators such as native bees and butterflies. Of unique interest in the Meadow are six free-standing panels that were once part of the Berlin Wall.

Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens

32 University Ave., Wolfville, N.S. botanicalgardens@acadiau.ca kcirvingcentre.acadiau.ca/harriet -irving-botanical-gardens

Open dawn to dusk, weather permitting. Free admission.

Another must-see attraction in the Wolfville area, the gardens are part of the KC Irving Environmental Science Centre at Acadia University. Here, you’ll learn more about the plants of the Acadian Forest Region with its many complex growing zones, and see many choice plants including yellow ladyslippers. There’s a yearly Native Plant Sale (June 3 in 2023) and research greenhouses and conservatory inside the centre. Always worth a visit.

Tangled Garden

11827 Nova Scotia Trunk 1, Grand Pré, N.S. tangledgarden.ca

902-542-9811 tangledgardenherbs@gmail.com

Shop is open year-round, gardens are closed in winter. Hours vary, check website.

More than 30 years ago, Beverly McClare began her dream of creating a garden and a thriving business selling preserves made with her own herbs. The award-winning business is a popular destination for visitors and locals alike. Wander through the glorious tangle of perennials, annuals, trees and shrubs, walk the labyrinth, sample goodies in the preserve shop, or enjoy a plein-air picnic featuring afternoon tea and homemade treats made on site.

Prince Edward Island

MacPhail Woods Ecological Forestry Project

269 MacPhail Park Rd., Vernon Bridge, P.E.I. 902-651-2575, macphailwoods@gmail.com macphailwoods.org

You won’t find tidy perennial beds of exotic flora in this wonderful place — instead, you’ll discover hundreds of native P.E.I. plant species, with a teaching area, arboretum, hiking trails, and a native plant nursery and greenhouse. Since 1991, the charity works to protect natural areas throughout P.E.I. and to promote sustainable forest management along with restoration of the Wabanaki-Acadian forest. The project offers courses and camps throughout the year, with a special focus on day camps for children to encourage their interest in the natural world.

AA MacDonald Memorial Gardens

36 Kent St., Georgetown P.E.I.

Billed as P.E.I.’s largest municipal garden and named after Georgetown’s own “father of confederation,” the free admission, 1.5-hectare site consists of 60 beds and some 15,000 annual flowering plants, plus hundreds of perennials. There’s a recently installed pond with lighted fountain. The gardens are within walking distance of numerous local attractions.

The Dunes Gallery, Gardens and Café

3622 Brackley Point Rd., Rte. 15, Brackley Beach, P.E.I. facebook.com/TheDunesStudioGallery 902-672-2586 dunesstudiogallery@gmail.com

A favourite stopping place for lovers of local and other art, including pottery and jewelry, as well as stunning gardens with water features and sculptures, and a terrific café. Reopening in May 2023 for its 40th season.

The Dunes.

Photo: Jiayu Su

Newfoundland and Labrador

NL Stone Gardens

35 Trans-Canada Highway, Pynns Brook, N.L. 709-660-2050 info@nlflagstone.com

About 15 kilometres from Deer Lake is the community of Pynn’s Brook, and the two-hectare marvel known as NL Stone Gardens. Richly planted with native and non-native trees and shrubs, accented with stone paths, walls and other rocky delights, this privately owned garden is an ideal site for birding enthusiasts, as well as fossil hunters. Group or self-guiding tours are available; admission is by donation. Open from late May until December.

Memorial University Botanical Garden

306 Mount Scio Rd., St. John’s, N.L. 709-864-8590 mun.ca/botanicalgarden garden@mun.ca

I confess to a bias towards this, the formerly named Oxen Pond Botanical Garden. I was living in St. John’s when it began in the early 1970s, and saw it grow in its earlier years. The garden is a wonder, which has expanded steadily since its founding, and features a dazzling number of speciality plantings and garden areas. The regular season, with varying hours, runs from early May to early November, and the Merry and Bright Holiday Light Festival is a popular Christmas event.

Photo: Bigstock/romiri

St. Mary’s Botanical Garden

173 Main St., Cow Head, N.L. 709-243 2830, nbrown11@hotmail.ca facebook.com/profile. php?id=100057525365976

Just minutes from Gros Morne National Park is the charming community of Cow Head and its community botanical garden. Established in 2001, this compact and delightful garden features three vegetable beds and no less than 40 flower beds. Never believe that plants cannot thrive by the sea. Open from May 1 to November 30. Admission by donation.