Park
The garden and the main part of the property were donated to the Toronto Horticultural Society by George William Allan, President of the Society, one-time Mayor of Toronto and long-time Senator in 1857. The park was known as the 'Botanical Gardens' and the 'Horticultural Gardens'. It was opened by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, on September 11, 1860. The Park was renamed "Allan Gardens" when George Allan died in 1901.
The trees in the park represent the northern tip of the Carolinian forest with species such as black cherry, American beech, red oak, sugar maple and sassafras. Most are over one hundred years old. The park is home to three varieties of squirrel, the gray, the black, and, unique to this park, the red tailed black squirrel. The park is also home to the city's largest flock of pigeons, a roving peregrine falcon and a statue of Robert Burns.
Allan Gardens is bounded by Jarvis Street on the West, Sherbourne Street on the East, Carlton Street on the North and Gerrard Street East on the South in Toronto's Garden District.
The gardens are served by College Station on the Toronto Transit Commission's Yonge-University-Spadina line
Read more about this topic: Allan Gardens
Famous quotes containing the word park:
“The park is filled with night and fog,
The veils are drawn about the world,”
—Sara Teasdale (1884–1933)
“Linnæus, setting out for Lapland, surveys his “comb” and “spare shirt,” “leathern breeches” and “gauze cap to keep off gnats,” with as much complacency as Bonaparte a park of artillery for the Russian campaign. The quiet bravery of the man is admirable.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)