A Garden for Canadians
Ottawa remains the only G20 capital without a botanical garden – creating a unique opportunity to imagine something meaningful for Canada’s Capital and the future of our nation.
Join the Movement to
The Canadensis Botanical Garden Society is working to create a place where plants, people, and ideas flourish together – a national space for beauty, biodiversity, learning, and connection in the heart of Canada’s Capital. Add your voice in support of a vision that will inspire generations to come.
All life depends on plants. Plants sustain our ecosystems, support biodiversity, provide food and medicine, clean our air, and shape the health of our communities and planet. They also enrich our lives in quieter but equally important ways – through beauty, wonder, restoration, and connection to the natural world.
Ottawa remains the only G20 capital without a botanical garden – creating a unique opportunity to imagine something meaningful for Canada’s Capital and the future of our nation.
Canadensis will become a public showcase for environmental stewardship, climate resilience, horticultural excellence, and sustainable urban living, working alongside organizations such as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Central Experimental Farm, the Arboretum, the Fletcher Wildlife Garden and the National Capital Commission.
Canadensis is about creating a lasting legacy: a place for learning, beauty, biodiversity, and connection that will grow and inspire generations to come.
Future spaces and programming might include:
Canadensis is also envisioned as a place of wellness and renewal – a place where people can slow down, reconnect with nature, and experience the restorative power of gardens in an increasingly fast-moving world.
Gardens can inspire curiosity, reflection, creativity, and hope. They can bring communities together and create meaningful spaces for gathering, learning, and shared experience.
Canadensis has the potential to become an important cultural, educational, tourism, and economic asset for Ottawa and Canada – creating jobs, attracting visitors, supporting research and learning, and contributing to the long-term vitality of the National Capital Region.
The Canadensis site is envisioned along Prince of Wales Drive, adjacent to the historic Rideau Canal at Hartwells Locks and Prince of Wales Drive, on the periphery of Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm.
Together with the Dominion Arboretum, the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, and the Experimental Farm, Canadensis would become a remarkable horticultural and environmental node… a destination in the heart of the Capital.
This synergistic landscape already connects Canadians with nature, learning, research, and public green space. Canadensis plans to build on that synergy for the benefit of future generations.
Adjacent to historic Rideau Canal at Hartwells Locks
Part of Canada’s premier horticultural hub
A destination for Canadians and visitors from around the world
Canadensis is situated on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation, whose peoples have lived on and cared for this land since time immemorial.
We honour the enduring relationship of the Anishinaabe Algonquin people to this land and their ongoing stewardship of these landscapes.