Edwards Gardens 5.09

Edwards Gardens is a botanical garden located on the southwest corner of Leslie Street and Lawrence Avenue East in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is also the site of the Toronto Botanical Garden, a private not-for profit organization previously called the Civic Garden Centre.It is a former estate garden featuring annuals, roses and wildflowers and an extensive rockery. It is located on Wilket Creek, one of the tributaries of the Don River West Branch. The estate's title was once held by Alexander Milne, a Scottish weaver who settled there after the War of 1812 and left in 1832. Although the property remained in the Milne family, it was left in neglect. The land and the woollen/saw mills were bought by Rupert E. Edwards in 1944 and he created a magnificent garden there. He sold the property to the Municipality of Metro Toronto in 1955 to become a public park, and it became Edwards Gardens in 1956. Toronto Botanical Garden (formerly Civic Garden Centre) relocated into the Milne home on the site in 1959.