Royal Botanical Gardens

came here for a wedding last year.
I felt like a kid in a candy store, or perhaps a kid that see’s lots of shiny things, and doesn’t know what to do first. this garden is absolutely amazing inside and outside with lots to see, and lots to venture around and see, you almost need more then a day to truly experience the whole experience. so far as the venue for the wedding goes, it was very beautiful, we were situated inside the Camilla & Peter Dalglish Atrium, which has a couple of living walls, and a whole bunch of other flowers and plants in and around the area, which as weird as this sounds, made the room feel more fresh/​alive/​something
the staff were super friendly, and the catering was awesome.
one of the best places ive been to for a wedding reception.

Went: Saturday, September 5, 2015, 4:30 p.m.
RBG got 4.0 over a lot of reviews on tripadvisor and 3.5 on Google plus, though most of those were people angry over something to do with deer.
I came here after previously visiting the nearly free Niagara Botanical Gardens ($ 5 parking). This is the Royal one of Ontario and they are charging $ 12.50 per person, so it must be nicer, right? No … not at all.
Now, there are some Gardens within cities that might be mainly educational, and it would not be fair to compare that with Niagara which was probably designed to look very picturesque and romantic. Visually, RBG was very unimpressive besides the somewhat interesting sculptures and the area near the tea house with the two shallow pools. Everything else looked quite drab and lifeless. One of the people who worked there told us about a Koi pond and the Mediterranean Gardens as something worthwhile to see. This was the saddest Koi pond I’ve seen. The pond was small, as were the fish, and there was little that was decorative. There is a wide variety of plants and there was some interesting set ups to present the plants, but it was very underwhelming.
I do not know why people would want to get married here to be honest.
The Laking area was very meh. I believe the Rock Garden was closed. We did not get a chance to check out the Arboretum, but I don’t think the best Arboretum in the world could salvage our generally disappointing experience.
Bottom Line: Do not come here unless you’ve heard it got significantly better. Save your time and money and head to Niagara Botanical Gardens or visit a local free garden in your area, which is likely to be better than this.

Better and Best is the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton, AB.
I visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, ON the last weekend in March 2015 and was so severely disappointed with all of it. Absolutely not worth the $ 14.00 admission cost.
The only displays that were open were the Mediterranean Garden (Cacti, succulents, and palm trees of very kind) and the special exhibition.
The special exhibition ‘FROGS’ was disappointing. I felt sorry for the frogs because of the very tiny display cases they were in, especially the giant frogs that had absolutely no room to jump.
There were lots of grandparents there the day I visited. Their little grandkids running and screaming everywhere and touching everything (despite the signs that the cactus are dangerous and Do Not Touch) and grabbing the coy in the coy pond, grandparents just giant, ignorant smiles while they watched. I guess they had memberships and this is where they brought the grandkids to wear them out.
I absolutely DO NOT recommend seeing it during the off season. Even the special exhibition wasn’t special enough for the price.
Also, I did not find the map of the interior space at all helpful. It did not accurately reflect the layout of the interior of the main building.

Lovely surroundings, even in the dead of winter.
Went for the train exhibit for my son and I have never seen so many small children so well behaved as they stared, open-​mouthed at the assortment of scale model trains going in and out of various tracks.
Staff was quite honestly the friendliest I have witnessed in many years. Smiley faces, happily guiding people to other displays, giving out information relating to the exhibit in question and the RBG history.
Will definitely return in warmer weather.

Was a bridesmaid in a wedding at the Royal Botanical Gardens in August 2012. Our service by all the staff here overall was absolutely terrible.
At the rehearsal the night before, one of the wedding coordinators came into the rehearsal area yelling loudly over everyone to the bride/​groom asking if they had paid their $ 75 rehearsal free. I was appalled. This should have been done discreetly. When we complained about it afterwards, we were not apologized to but actually asked to confirm that we had paid it.
On the actual wedding day, we arrived twenty minutes before the ceremony with the bride waiting in her dad’s car to be escorted in by the wedding co-​ordinator to the bride’s backroom. The wedding co-​ordinator didn’t show up until five minutes before the ceremony (with the bride waiting in a hot car outside). She must’ve complained over ten times that it wasn’t her fault but that she had to manage 6 weddings today and there were only 3 co-​ordinators that day. I really don’t feel that is an excuse. People are paying good money for their wedding to be hosted here, so hire more co-​ordinators.
The dining staff were rude and uncaring. When asking for drink refills, we were greeted with the attitude that it wasn’t really their job (even though it was). Later that night, the staff forgot to cut the cake and had to be asked to do so.
Overall, expect to be treated like you’re in a «wedding factory». The backdrop is beautiful but that’s about it.

Have returned a few more times since taking out a membership. They have lots of neat shows — last week’s featured lilies and the perfume of so many was exquisite as were the arrangements. The oldest part, the rock garden, is exquisitely landscaped. Was filled with annuals for summer colour but can’t wait to visit in spring when the bulbs are out.