Our next stop on the tour is the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens. Established in 1936, the Gardens provide visitors with 99 acres of beautifully maintained gardens that feature perennials, rhododendrons, azaleas, a formal parterre garden, herb and vegetable plantings, and their world-famous rose garden featuring over 2,400 roses. This section of the parkland is also home to the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, an institution that provides unique practical training to horticulture students on the grounds of the Botanical Gardens. As a visitor to the park you could also take a trip to visit their butterfly conservatory. The conservatory was opened in December 1996 with a gift shop, 200-seat theater/auditorium room, and a climate-controlled greenhouse. The conservatory glass dome is 1,022 square metres in size with 180 metres of paths inside the greenhouse portion. Most of the butterflies within the conservatory are imported from tropical regions around the world. Approximately 60% of the butterflies come from butterfly farms in Costa Rica, El Salvador and the Philippines. And the other 40% are raised in a quarantined greenhouse that is located behind the Conservatory. The conservatory has over 2,000 tropical butterflies from over 60 different species.

This section of the parkland is home to the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, an institution that provides unique practical training to horticulture students on the grounds of the Botanical Gardens. The Butterfly Conservatory was opened in December 1996 with a gift shop, 200-seat theatre/auditorium room, and a climate-controlled greenhouse. The conservatory glass dome is 1,022 square metres (11,000 sq ft) in size with 180 metres (590 ft) of paths inside the greenhouse portion. The conservatory has over 2,000 tropical butterflies from over 60 different species.

• Butterfly Conservatory
• Botanical Gardens
• Rose Garden
• Horse and Carriage Tours
  • Guided horse and carriage tours of the gardens are available daily during the summer months. Tours run from May to mid October from 10 am - 5 pm, $25 per person + tax. Tours are operated by Sentineal Carriages. Special wedding services are also available.

Many of the conservatories butterflies are imported from tropical regions around the world. Since captive butterflies usually have a life span of 2–4 weeks, the conservatory imports up to 3,000 butterflies per month from world butterfly farms. Approximately 60% of the butterflies come from butterfly farms in Costa Rica, El Salvador and the Philippines. Another 40% are raised in a quarantined greenhouse that is located behind the Conservatory. Special netting along the inside of the glass dome keeps the butterflies from getting stuck to it and from dying from hypothermia. Butterfly food plants at the conservatory such as Lantana, Cuphea, Zinnia, Ixora, Liatris, and Pentas are replaced every 2–3 weeks because caterpillars have large appetites. The various species of butterflies at the conservatory include the banded orange, blue morpho, common Mormon, cydno longwing, Doris longwing, Gulf fritillary, Julia, Low's swallowtail, monarch, mosaic, owl, red lacewing, Sara longwing, and small postman, among others.

Niagara Parks, Niagara Falls

Paths within the butterfly conservatory and outside in the gardens are designed to accommodate for those with accessibility needs.

https://www.niagaraparks.com/visit/nature-garden/botanical-gardens-2/