The vast ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS are located roughly 40 miles southwest of TORONTO midway between BURLINGTON and HAMILTON.  A National Historic Site of Canada, the gardens cover 2,400 acres with 27 kilometres of walking trails.  They’re home to more than 50 at-risk species and a major stop-over point for thousands of migrating birds.

Main entrance to the Royal Botanical Gardens is at 680 Plains Road in BURLINGTON.  There is an admission charge.  Website – http://www.rbg.ca     TORONTO’s Botanical Garden, 777 Lawence Avenue East at Leslie, is one of Canada’s finest urban gardens.  It’s compact, somewhat hilly but easily walkable.  Accessible by public transit, bicycle and automobile, the Toronto Botanical Garden, Edwards Gardens and Wilket Creek Park lead from one into the other.  And it’s all FREE, including the parking.

Edwards Gardens, 775 Lawrence Avenue East, is a former private estate garden featuring an extensive rockery, rhododendrons and wildflowers bordering the Wilket Creek Valley, with perennials, roses, an arboretum and a Teaching Garden on its uplands.  And Wilket Creek Park is part of our city’s crisscrossing ravine system, with several kilometres of paved bike trails.  From the EGLINTON SUBWAY STATION take Bus #54 Lawrence Avenue East, or Bus #51 Leslie East.  http://www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca