Giving Thanks over Thanksgiving at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Autumn foliage and flowers at the TBG

I was stuck in town over the Thanksgiving (Canadian) weekend so I ambled over to the Toronto Botanical Garden to see the latest displays of fall flowers and foliage. It's a great time to visit as I'm not fighting with spring crowds or enduring summer's heat and humidity. Sure, you won't see the masses of tulips, daffodils and other spring bulbs or the gaudy summer over-the-top peony blooms in October (which are all beautiful nevertheless). The feeling now is more subdued, as if the gardens here and all over town are telling us that "hey, we're feeling a little tired now but we'll put on one last great display of colour before we sleep over winter." 

I'm very thankful that the TBG exists for all of Toronto and elsewhere to enjoy. There's no admission cost, it's accessible by public transit (although a trek from downtown where I live), has ample parking, and offers many programs and lectures.

I occasionally pop by for an hour or so, take several dozen pictures, have a coffee, read a bit and leave with my "flower and foliage fix" satisfied.

Here are some highlights from my visit two weeks ago for you enjoy. Autumn in Toronto is quite lovely, if you can ignore the incessant whine of leaf blowers inflicted by those mow-blow- and go landscapers all over the city right now!

Entry Garden Walk at the Toronto Botanical 
Garden showing Amsonia hubrichtii's 
fall colour in the background

Entry Garden Walk at the Toronto Botanical Garden 
autumn herbaceous peony and Hakone grass foliage

Entry Garden Walk at the Toronto Botanical Garden 
autumn Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum)

Entry Garden Walk at the Toronto Botanical Garden 
autumn ‘Strictum’ switch grass (Panicum virgatum)

Entry Garden Walk at the Toronto Botanical 
Garden Verbena bonariensis and Joe Pye Weed

Entry Garden Walk at the Toronto Botanical 
Garden Verbena bonariensis blooms

Entry Garden Walk at the Toronto Botanical 
Garden ‘Firedance’ mountain fleece and 
Hosta sieboldiana ‘Blue Angel’ 

Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' Mountain Fleece 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Tricyrtis formosana 'Samurai' Toad Lily 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Hellebore, epimedium and 'Coonara Pygmy' 
Japanese maple at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Fothergilla gardenii (Dwarf Witch Alder) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Indigofera kirilowii Indigo 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden

 Golden Full Moon Maple 
(Acer shirasawanum "Aureum") 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Acer palmatum 'Coonara Pygmy' 
Japanese maple at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Amur Cork Tree (Phellodendron amurense) bark 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum 'Waterfall' Japanese maple 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Aconitum ‘Ivorine’ Monkshood 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Autumn cutleaf Japanese maple and 
Hakone Japanese Forest Grass 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma 'Early Amethyst') 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Callicarpa dichotoma 'Early Amethyst' (Beautyberry) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

"Green Hornet" Cutleaf Japanese Maple 
(Acer palmatum 'Green Hornet') 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Hamamelis mollis Chinese witch hazel 
fall foliage at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Japanese Barberry and Sawara False Cypress 
detail at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Montauk daisy (Nipponanthemum nipponicum) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Hamamelis virginiana (common witch hazel) 
autumn foliage at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Hamamelis virginiana (common witch hazel) bloom and seed capsule at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Hamamelis virginiana (common witch hazel) 
blooms at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acanthus hungaricus (Bear's Breeches) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Amsonia hubrichtii (Bluestar) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Amsonia hubrichtii (Bluestar) fall foliage 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Autumn border at the Toronto Botanical Garden