The Toronto Botanical Garden is a garden and horticultural centre beside Edwards Gardens in the Don Valley. The Cultural Landscape Foundation states that it was established in 1958 as the Civic Garden Centre by the Garden Club of Toronto, and that its seventeen themed gardens cover 1.6 hectares (about four acres), redesigned in 2006.
The garden and the park around it are often mixed up. Edwards Gardens is the older public park, which opened in the 1950s. The Toronto Botanical Garden is the organization and the themed gardens next to it.
What is the Toronto Botanical Garden?
The Toronto Botanical Garden, usually shortened to TBG, combines display gardens with a teaching centre. Historic Places Days, which draws on the garden’s own text, lists courses, lectures, workshops, garden tours, a horticultural library, and year-round children’s programs. The themed gardens opened in 2006 and are described there as free to visit; because admission and programs change, the TBG website is the place to confirm current details.
The site before the garden: Milne and Edwards
The land lies along Wilket Creek in the Don Valley. The Cultural Landscape Foundation says the Scottish miller Alexander Milne bought land along the ravine in 1827 and ran woolen and saw mills on the creek, until dwindling water moved the mills east to the Don River in 1832, and that the property stayed in the Milne family for over a century. Historic Places Days says instead that Milne settled his family on the site in 1817, so the earliest date differs by source.
In 1944 the businessman Rupert Edwards bought the neglected Milne homestead. The Cultural Landscape Foundation describes it as 11 hectares and says Edwards turned it into a garden with flowerbeds, ponds, bridges, a private nine-hole golf course, and a rockery of 425 tons of stone, and dammed the creek to run a waterwheel. According to the same page he sold the estate in 1955 to the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto on condition that it be used as a park, and the park opened to the public two years later, in 1957. Historic Places Days implies a sale about 1954 and gives 1956 as the opening year, and the Docomomo Ontario gallery also says the estate became a public park in 1956. The sale and opening years are therefore disputed by one to two years.
The Civic Garden Centre and its buildings
The Garden Club of Toronto wanted a centre that would share horticultural information with the public. Historic Places Days says the club shared Milne House on the site with the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, and that this effort led to the Toronto Botanical Garden. The Cultural Landscape Foundation gives 1958 as the year the Civic Garden Centre was established.
Docomomo Ontario, a heritage group that documents modern architecture, states that the architect Raymond Moriyama designed a shelter and a civic garden centre at Edwards Gardens, built in 1964 and 1965. It says Jerome Markson expanded the Civic Garden Centre in 1976 and Montgomery Sisam added the George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture in 2005. The same entry reports that the buildings are protected under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act and that the shelter received a 25-Year Award from the Ontario Association of Architects in 1991. This protection claim comes from one source and was not matched to a heritage register entry for this article.
Timeline
| Year | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1817 or 1827 | Alexander Milne settles or buys land on the creek (sources differ) | Historic Places Days; Cultural Landscape Foundation |
| 1944 | Rupert Edwards buys the Milne homestead | Historic Places Days; Cultural Landscape Foundation |
| 1955 | Edwards sells the estate to Metropolitan Toronto for use as a park (about 1954 per another source) | Cultural Landscape Foundation |
| 1956 or 1957 | Edwards Gardens opens to the public (sources differ) | Historic Places Days; Docomomo Ontario; Cultural Landscape Foundation |
| 1958 | Civic Garden Centre established by the Garden Club of Toronto | Cultural Landscape Foundation |
| 1964 to 1965 | Moriyama’s shelter and civic garden centre built | Docomomo Ontario |
| 1976 | Civic Garden Centre expanded | Docomomo Ontario; Cultural Landscape Foundation |
| 2005 | Dembroski Centre for Horticulture opens, with a library, offices, and a green roof | Cultural Landscape Foundation; Docomomo Ontario |
| 2006 | Contemporary themed gardens of nearly four acres open | Historic Places Days |
Historic Places Days reports that the renovated Dembroski Centre won a Toronto Green Award and a silver LEED certification. The date at which the Civic Garden Centre took the name Toronto Botanical Garden could not be confirmed from a page that opened for this check, so it is not stated here.
The themed gardens
The Cultural Landscape Foundation counts seventeen themed gardens on 1.6 hectares and credits the 2006 redesign to PMA Landscape Architects, Thomas Sparling, and the horticulturalist Paul Ehnes. The Dutch designer Piet Oudolf created the Entry Garden Walk, a meadow planting, and worked with the Toronto landscape architect Martin Wade on the Arrival Courtyard. These design credits come from a single source.
Edwards Gardens and the Don Valley
Edwards Gardens is a public park in the ravine of Wilket Creek. The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s page on the park describes the Rupert Edwards estate of the 1940s and 1950s, with its rockery and ponds. The ravine setting links the garden to the story of Toronto’s buried and surviving creeks, told in the article on lost rivers and ravines. The legal and management relationship between the City of Toronto park and the Toronto Botanical Garden was not described by the sources read for this check, so this article does not state it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Toronto Botanical Garden?
It is a garden and horticultural centre next to Edwards Gardens in Toronto. It began in 1958 as the Civic Garden Centre, founded by the Garden Club of Toronto, according to the Cultural Landscape Foundation.
How many acres are in the Toronto Botanical Garden?
The themed gardens cover 1.6 hectares (about four acres), according to the Cultural Landscape Foundation, and Historic Places Days says nearly four acres. The surrounding park, Edwards Gardens, is larger; sources read give 11 hectares for the original Edwards estate.
Is the Toronto Botanical Garden the same as Edwards Gardens?
No. They are adjoining sites. Edwards Gardens is the former Rupert Edwards estate, which became a public park in the 1950s. The botanical garden is the program centre and themed gardens that grew from the Civic Garden Centre of 1958.
Why visit the Toronto Botanical Garden?
Visitors come to see the themed gardens, the Piet Oudolf meadow planting, and the programs run by the garden, and to walk on into Edwards Gardens and the valley. Hours, admission, and program fees change, so the TBG website is the source for current details.
Related reading
- Visiting Toronto: landmarks and districts
- Toronto’s lost rivers and ravines
- Rules for Toronto parks
- Toronto neighbourhoods and their history
- Toronto’s weather and climate
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Toronto Botanical Garden
- The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Edwards Gardens
- Historic Places Days, Toronto Botanical Garden (text supplied by the garden)
- Docomomo Ontario, Edwards Gardens Buildings
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Toronto Botanical Garden: History, Edwards Gardens and Size. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-botanical-garden
MLA: “Toronto Botanical Garden: History, Edwards Gardens and Size.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-botanical-garden. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Toronto Botanical Garden: History, Edwards Gardens and Size.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-botanical-garden.
The pages have no named author, so the site is given as the author. Add the date you read the page if your style asks for it.