I finally got to the Royal Botanical Garden's newly renovated Rock Garden yesterday on a beautiful November day with the sun lowering in the afternoon sky.
It took a few years, and quite a bit of money to renovate the gardens. It boasts a grand modern entrance building, and accessible walkways down to the rock garden. It is significantly revamped. As I looked at various areas, I could see how different it is now. Even with the mature trees still in their places, the renovation is profound.
The water was emptied from the ponds so the full effect is missing in the late fall. Still the autumn colours are showing in the Japanese maples, dogwoods, viburnums and the grasses.
The landscape architect firm was Janet Rosenberg Studio. I looked for reviews by the professional trade to see what the verdict is. I found one article in Canadian Architecture covering the basic overview of what was accomplished. Nothing else so far. I wanted to know if the result has elevated the rock garden to star status. A sunken garden has the potential to be pure magic.
So it was great to see the re-do of the ponds and paths as they were in poor shape. The new ponds and waterways are the major features and they are empty now, so I may have to wait till spring to get the full effect of the fountains, waterfalls and bridges. It might be possible to capture some snow images - I checked to see if the Rock Garden is open in winter and daily hours are posted, so we'll see what happens.
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