Gardens
The Public Gardens encompass 16 acres and are bounded by Spring Garden Road, South Park Street, Summer Street and Sackville Street. They are open annually from approximately May 1 until November 1. The landscaping style is Victorian formal and provides a popular setting for wedding and prom photos. In addition to statues and extensive flower beds, there are three fountains, two stone bridges, three ponds (one large and two small), and a small concession building (located in the original Horticultural Hall). The gardens also feature a bandstand that is used for free public concerts on Sunday afternoons during the summer. There are celebrations in the gardens every year on Canada day (July 1st) and Natal Day (the first Monday in August).
In the past, many people enjoyed feeding the ducks who make the gardens their home, although it is now prohibited.
The Public Gardens were badly damaged by Hurricane Juan in 2003. Many trees were destroyed, necessitating the early closure of the gardens and some redesign. The gardens reopened on Canada Day, 2004 after a restoration aided in part by $1 million which was raised during a radio telethon.
Read more about this topic: Halifax Public Gardens
Famous quotes containing the word gardens:
“The devout have laid out gardens in the desert.”
—Robert Duncan (b. 1919)
“Within the memory of many of my townsmen the road near which my house stands resounded with the laugh and gossip of inhabitants, and the woods which border it were notched and dotted here and there with their little gardens and dwellings, though it was then much more shut in by the forest than now.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Have We not made the earth as a cradle
and the mountains as pegs?
And We created you in pairs,
and We appointed your sleep for a rest;
and We appointed night for a garment,
and We appointed day for a livelihood.
And We have built above you seven strong ones,
and We appointed a blazing lamp
and have sent down out of the rain-clouds water cascading
that We may bring forth thereby grain and plants,
and gardens luxuriant.”
—Quran, The Tiding 78:6-16, ed. Arthur J. Arberry (1955)