Welcome to ALLAN GARDENS.
What an incredible honour to have received a virtual reward. I love virtuals and am extremely happy to now be able to provide one to my fellow geocachers.
Allan Gardens is a gem in the heart of downtown Toronto. I wanted to bring you somewhere that the entire family can enjoy.
George Allan was a popular Toronto politician, serving first as alderman from 1849 -1855, before becoming elected as the 11th Mayor of Toronto. Before entering national politics in 1858 George Allan offered the Toronto Horticultural Society a five-acre parcel of land to develop a garden. In 1864, the City of Toronto purchased the surrounding lands from Mr Allan, releasing it to the Horticultural Society on the condition that the grounds be publicly accessible and free of charge. In 1879 the Society opened a new Horticultural Pavilion which in turn was replaced in 1894 with a more spacious one. A disastrous fire on June 6, 1902, destroyed the Horticultural Pavilion and parts of the new conservatory. City architect Robert McCallum designed its replacement, the classically proportioned domed Palm House which opened in 1910 and stands on the site today. The Conservatory grew to almost 13 acres in size and added two new display greenhouses in the 1920's. In 1957, it constructed additional greenhouse wings to expand conservatory display space and reconstructed the adjacent garden areas. Today, this botanical garden features six greenhouses which remain free to explore.
Two Tropical Houses feature a wide variety of interesting plants including orchids, bromeliads, begonia and gesneriads
The Cool Temperate House features Camellias, Jasmine and plants from Australia and the Mediterranean
The Palm House dome shelters a thriving collection of varied palms, bananas and tropical vines with drifts of brilliantly coloured seasonal plants
The Tropical Landscape House offers lush exotics such as cycads, gingers, hibiscus and a green jade vine
The Arid House is home to a large display of unusual cacti and succulents including collections of agave, opuntia, haworthia and aloe
Allan Gardens is open to the public 365 days of the year from 10AM - 5PM and is wheelchair accessible. It's historic, it's beautiful and it's free! Come and see this treasure for yourself.
TO LOG THIS CACHE:
This is really easy. I just want everybody to see this beautiful park and building. Simply take a picture of yourself (no need to show your face) or just a thumbs up at the posted coordinates, and post it in the gallery.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.