Royal Botanical Garden's rock garden gets a makeover

The 80-year-old rock garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton has just undergone a major rejuvenation with funds from federal and provincial governments adding up to $21 million dollars. 

It was once a quarry but is now an even more impressive local attraction with a new visitor centre, new lighting and sound systems and new horticultural highlights which will provide visitors with an experience throughout the entire growing season. 

Rita Celli of CBC's Ontario Today spoke with Jim Mack, head of Horticulture at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton about the renovated rock garden and the new improvements. 

Listen to the full interview by clicking the play button at the top of this page or read an edited and abridged transcript of the interview below.

Jim Mack, head of Horticulture at the Royal Botanical Gardens

What was it like in its hey day?

Well it started out in a rather ubiquitous way, as a gravel pit, some 35 foot deep, covering an area of about 5 and a half acres, believe it or not. 

Back in it's hey day, as that gravel pit in the 20's, it provided gravel for the city of Hamilton. 

So how did it transform into the garden part?

After a while, the city was looking for a way to enhance its access into arrival for people into the city of Hamilton and a design competition was held. Overall the design that was selected as the winner was for the Northwest entrance was from a Toronto firm of Wilson-Banwell in Toronto. 

What did it look like, when it was most beautiful?

So back in that day, when it was eventually built as the rock garden, opened in 1932. It was planted with a lot of coniferous plants, a lot of plants that you would find in a sort of a rock outcropping settings. It had literally thousands of perennials that were planted into this feature and also offset with quite a lot of bulbs and flowering plants down in the bowl itself. 

What kind of disrepair had it fallen into?

Through time and obviously through weathering, many of its attributes had fallen into some states of disrepair, some of the rock steps had fallen into cases where they were almost not navigable anymore. Some of those things needed to be rebuilt and some of the other garden structures in particular, the water features, were not in very good shape, the pond features were leaking and all of those things needed to have major upgrades.

What does 20 million bucks get you? What does it look like now?

Well, 20 million bucks gets you quite a bit actually. Some of the major upgrades, aside from the redesign of the garden features and the water course itself was the addition of a significant new visitor centre that provides food services, wash rooms and a space that can be rented for events. 

Is there something you are most excited about, at this rock garden?

I think it's a melding of hearing the water coming over the waterfalls and going through a water course and just having water features going through this former gravel pit and looking up around you and seeing the walls of rock outcroppings punctuated with plantings of all sorts. It truly is rather unique and spectacular.

Is there anything blooming this time of year?

We do some bulbs that are in bloom, currently and we have alpine plants that are popping into bloom at this early juncture. Certainly, the promise of many perennials coming. 

Where is the music, at the visitor centre or can you hear it throughout the garden?

You actually can hear it throughout the garden. We have a very state of the art weather proof sound system that can be turned down at any time for various events and we've upgraded all kinds of lighting throughout the garden. So we are looking forward to having events there in the evening as well. 

The garden can be enjoyed through registered tours between April 30th and May 18th and will open to the public on May 20th.