James Gardens

Toronto, Canada, Canada

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James Gardens is a public botanical garden located at 99 Edenbridge Drive in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, along the west bank of the Humber River, covering 8.5 hectares of hills, valley, and forest.

It was once a private estate owned by Frederick Thomas James, a successful Toronto fish merchant, and his wife Margaret, who transformed the formerly swampy land into a gardener's masterpiece with picturesque gardens, waterfalls, terraces, lawns, nature trails, ponds, and rockeries, and welcomed other garden lovers to visit any time except Sunday.

After Frederick died in 1949 and Margaret in 1954, Metro Toronto purchased the property for CA$150,000 in 1955, and it now operates as a public park managed by the Toronto Parks Department, with part of the original stone mansion serving as a community centre offering preschool, arts, fitness programs, and a summer camp combining fine arts, ecology, and athletics.