So this Covid-19 Pandemic that we are currently in has made me even more introspective than usual…read more I have been contemplating a lot about how precarious life is and admittedly this has caused me a great deal of anxiety. Coincidentally, around this time, I discovered a poem, thanks to my sister-in-law, by Wendell Berry called "The Peace of Wild Things." There's a line in the poem that talks about how wild things "do not tax their lives with forethought of grief." This line really resonated with me because it made me realize that I do spend a large portion of my life worrying about and anticipating loss. So I thought that maybe if I spent some time closer to wild things they would impart some of their peacefulness onto me. I discovered the existence of the Fletcher Wildlife Garden online, and decided to pay it a visit. I can't say that I had any epiphanies there, but the Garden is beautiful and perhaps for some fleeting moments, I was able capture a sense of tranquility. There is 90 minutes free parking in their private parking lot. The parking lot separates 2 sides of the Garden. On one side the paths are wider and the area is better groomed and landscaped. This side looks more like a park you would expect to find in a metropolitan city. You can have picnics on this side. On the other side the area is more feral and treed. That side looks more like a wooded hiking trail. I was hoping to see some frogs, butterflies and unusual birds, but I only saw squirrels, chipmunks, ducks and Canada geese. Apparently, there are coyotes in there. Thankfully, I did not encounter any. If you looking to be closer to nature without living the city, I would recommend checking out Fletcher Wildlife Garden. It wasn't too busy and the space is vast, so it's easy to physically distance from other people. No guarantees that you will find serenity or clarity in these trying times, but you will see nature in its beauty and maybe capture some pretty photos for your screensaver or background ;)

I love the Ornamental Gardens. You can visit this place throughout the year (I never tried during…read morewinter) and see different plants and vegetation. This is a small collection of British gardens that are a perfect escape from the city inside the city.accsisable by car, foot or bike..and FREE.

Was quoted $50 an hour Apon payment she actually wanted…read more$50hr for herself and $50hr for the help she brought with her. Very disappointed, the job was not worth what was paid.

These people are life savers. I was unable due to health issues to cut our large lawn. It had grown…read moretoo long, too fast and we needed help. They came to our rescue the same day we called and did a fantastic job. We are eternally grateful to them for their wonderful, caring effort. Thank you.

When we moved to Ottawa, we chose a gardener that many of our friends and neighbours used…read more Unfortunately, though the 2 years of using them, the grass became more decrepit, weeds began to bloom and overgrow and we had no idea where our money went. We fired them and went with Zoryk's - within 2 months, the lawn was revitalized and began to bloom. Mike Zoryk (the owner/president) gave us helpful advice on maintenance, in addition to his own hard work. Granted it wasn't cheap to renew the lawn, we had one painful summer. This year, we have continued with Zoryk's (and a lower price) and have continued to be quite happy with their services. They are reliable, and helpful. Many of our friends have now gone with Zoryk's and are similarly happy. We would highly recommend them!

From the owner: Zoryk's Property Maintenance offers a full set of services to maintain your property year-round. As…read morea full-service provider, Zoryk's Property Maintenance is committed to ensuring that your property is at its best. From ensuring that de-icing treatments are focused on walkways - rather than killing a lawn that will need reviving in the spring - Zoryk's Property Maintenance professionals will keep your best interests in mind. Zoryk's Property Maintenance proudly provides commercial and residential landscaping, lawn care, property maintenance and snow removal and management for the Greater Ottawa area, including Nepean, Kanata, Orleans, Vanier, Rockcliffe Park, Stittsville, Carp, Manotick and Greely.

First and foremost, the address on Yelp is wrong. I submitted the correct location, but the…read moremoderators have not changed it. The Third Ave address listed is their administrative office. There is no botanical garden there. Look on Google Maps. There is no greenspace there. Canadensis is actually part of the Experimental Farm and is located along Prince of Wales Dr. just north of Hartwell's Locks Lane. It's adjacent to the Fletcher's Wildlife Garden. It has no civic address per se, but if you go to Prince of Wales Dr and Hartwell's Locks Lane on Google Maps or in real life, and go slightly north, you'll see Canadensis. Now that that's out of the way...let's get on with the review. Canadensis Garden of Canada is still in its infancy, but the plan is for it to be the future site of Canada's National Botanical Garden. The goal is for the botanical garden is to have plants from all parts of Canada. However, as of May 2023 it consists of mainly an open field with some art installations. The art installations are cool, but there aren't many and they are very spaced out. My favourite was the stiletto heels made out of car parts. They also had a pyramidal structure, a sun shelter, a sculpture that looked like cigarette butts sticking out of the ground, and another sculpture that looked like marshmallows on a stick poking out of the ground. I couldn't take pictures of the latter two because there were people milling about them. I was disappointed that with the exception of the sun shelter, there weren't any informational plaques by the art installations. I feel like this site has a lot of potential. Fletcher's Wildlife Gardens has a small parking lot with free parking. It's a short walk from there to Canadensis.

My parents came to visit me for the weekend for the Tulip festival. We had a picnic at this park…read moreand it was fantastic! Great sunny weather and lots of people. The trees were green and the tulips were out. It's a large area where you have enough space to have privacy. There is lots of shade as well. This was not my first time and won't be my last.

The park is very peaceful and quiet. It is beautiful and has many different flowers. It also has a…read morewonderful view of the Parliament Hill, Ottawa River and the Canal. It's nice to go for a walk/run along the river or go for a picnic and enjoy a laid back and relaxing time. It's a must-see in Ottawa.

It looks like Alan and I have come to some sort of agreement that his team will still come and fix…read morethe patio stones one of these days or soon. There were certain mutual misunderstandings. I hope the current unevenness of the patio stones will be corrected, and then I will remove the negative comments on my part. *** The original text: With Ottawa Student Landscaping, I had the worst landscaping experience ever. You can see what gaps they left in our patio. NEVER EVER EVER use their services ! Due to some recent family loss of 2 people and 2 adorable guinea pigs, my critical thinking was really foggy, so instead of checking multiple landscapers and asking each one in advance, I selected these guys. From the beginning, I assumed that they are landscapers, they accept work requests. Again, not thinking clearly and critically, I paid both the first payment before the work and final payment after the 10 x 10 feet patio was done (2 x $1,829.19). When I send the pictures with wavy and wobbly edge on my patio, Alan Guan demanded that only the first 2 hours they can work for free, then $50 per man hour ! Wow ! To fix their own bad work they demand more money, eh ? I realized too late that the patio is done in a wrong place, but Alan Guan said that they are not designers. Wow ! If I clearly heard and understood that they are not designers, I wouldn't deal with them in the first place. NEVER EVER EVER use their services !

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY Late April:…read moreI contacted OSL (Owner: Alan Guan, BIN: 1000203720) for a small landscaping project involving a strip of river rocks between my property and my neighbor's. Alan provided a quote of ~$1,100.00. The job included removing existing rocks, installing weed-resistant fabric, washing the rocks, and replacing them to prevent future weed growth. May 2nd, 2024: Employees arrived at 10:00 a.m. and worked until 4:00 p.m. They struggled to clean the rocks due to the excessive mud they dug up. They finished the job, but the rocks were wet and dark, making it hard to see the results clearly. They were paid in full and left. Alan collected his supplies later that evening or the next morning. May 3rd, 2024: After the rocks dried, I discovered a 3-inch pile of mud at my driveway, and the last quarter of the rocks were in a pool of mud, leaves, roots, and debris. Weeds were still present along my neighbour's side (photos). I contacted Alan with a photo. His response was "Sorry to hear this, I recommend picking up a couple of bottles of weed spray from Home Depot to quash any weeds if they do come up in a couple of months. As for the mud, the guys tried their best to wash it as best as possible, sorry about that. The mud should wash off after a few rainy days". May 5th, 2024: After three heavy rainfalls, there was thick, hardened mud and new weed growth. I bought weed killer as a temporary solution and contacted Alan again. He did not reply. May 7th, 2024: I followed up, asking if he was ignoring the issue. He replied "the guys spent a whole day, not sure how we can help further. We can send the guys back to help pressure wash the stones more at a reduced rate". I explained to him that I would not be paying MORE for a service that was not completely adequately to begin with. May 8th, 2024: I sent an email to Alan, but it bounced back. I texted him instead, asking him to fix the job properly. May 9th, 2024: Alan replied, stating he would inspect the rocks but did not follow up. May 12th, 2024: I texted again, asking when he would arrive. He informed me that "Our guys are unwilling to go back, one of them is out of town until Mid June, I would go myself to do it, however I am in Quebec until August for military training." May 13th, 2024: Alan promised to hire another company, stating "I'm in contact with a couple students, I will have someone come this weekend/early next week to fix it up as needed". We agreed they would arrive on May 19th. May 19th, 2024: The new company arrived and had a confusing conversation with my neighbours and decided to call me to clarify. They stated that the job was worse than he thought and wasn't willing to correct for the amount offered. He also stated it was a "horrific" landscaping job. May 20th, 2024: I noticed new weed growth and texted Alan again. He offered to hire someone to fix the issue again. May 23rd, 2024: Still no reply. I sent another text asking for an update. No response. Also informed him of more weed growth again. May 25th, 2024: As of today, I still haven't heard back from Alan. Conclusion: This experience has been extremely frustrating. OSL failed to complete the job as promised and provided no satisfactory resolution. I strongly advise avoiding this company. See attached photos. I will be contacting Better Business Bureau.

This girl is a fraud. She demanded a deposit of $300. She showed up to do a full day job at 1pm…read morewith no tools.. She is very unprofessional. She told me she would arrive at 10am. I called her at 10:30am to get an eta, she said she was waiting on her employees to arrive and she was an hour away. Then she called me at 11:30 to say they are just leaving and are going to stop to eat on the way so another hour at least. When she finally arrived at 1pm she had no tools. Her employee was outside smoking wearing running shoes not prepared at all to do landscaping and said it was her first day working with this person... Emily is a fraud and refuses to reimburse my deposit.. I will be reporting her to better business bureau and the police.

I love this park so much, it seriously is as good as it gets. Centrally located, but not crowded…read more So many willow trees to lay under and have a picnic or read a good book. There is so much space to run around in with the fur babies (my dog seriously loves it here), great bike trails and hills, but not only that, there are tons of benches right by the water to relax by. If only it was closer to my home, I'd be here everyday!

This is my favourite park in downtown Ottawa: it's absolutely gorgeous. Many of the trees are…read moreincredibly old, including some that date back to the late 19th century. There are a huge variety of tree and shrub species, my favourites being the crab trees (when in bloom) and the dozens of weeping willows that line the waterway. You can even climb onto the extended flat thick branches that reach out over the water. I've even seen people fishing off these areas. The arboretum is pretty large with lots of different areas to have picnics, read, play frisbee, or take your children or pets. It's also apparently a great place to go sledding in the winter. This area has been so beautifully sustained and it's great for all seasons. This is one of the best green spaces in Ottawa, and that's saying a lot.

We had some issues with the work initially but they went above and beyond to sort them. Very…read moregrateful.

We had just lost two mature maple trees (+70 years) in our front yard due to disease and a sudden…read moresummer storm. Although we already had a front flower garden, it just didn't have the same appeal that it once had and, of course, we now had more sun. We desperately needed to change the look of our front yard and had some preliminary discussions with a few landscapers. However, we were not terribly impressed with their approach to our needs. Finally, we met with Ed Hansen, President of Hansen Lawn and Gardens Limited. Ed took the time to listen to our overall expectations and then explain what the possibilities were for our yard and what his team could do for us. I found him extremely knowledgeable, down to earth and very sincere. He had one of his staff draw up a garden plan for us to look at. We were very impressed with the design plan that was presented and after receiving a detailed written estimate, we agreed to have the work done right away. The actual work began within about three weeks. In the meantime, Ed was always available by phone or by mail to answer any questions we had. Planting day had finally arrived and we were just a little anxious. The planting team were very enthusiastic and conscientious. They clearly enjoyed what they were doing and it showed in everything they did. The result is a refreshed and vibrant front flower garden that we are now extremely proud of. We have already had some wonderful compliments from many of our neighbours. The transformation has been outstanding. The refreshed "curb appeal" of our home is far better that we had ever expected. The overall cost of the work was extremely reasonable and will more than pay for itself when we eventually sell our home. We feel very pleased about our decision to have the work done by Hansen Lawn and Garden and we would highly recommend them to anyone looking to have any landscaping work done on their property. Alan & Geraldine Tunney