Christmas flower show now on at Allan Gardens.
People visit the Christmas Flower Show at Allan Gardens Conservatory Sunday afternoon. The show runs until Jan. 8 with candlelight shows Dec. 10, 11, 17 and 18.
Staff photo/NICK PERRY
The Allan Gardens Conservatory will celebrate the holiday season with its annual Christmas flower show, which runs until Jan. 8.
The show will see the downtown conservatory brimming with some 40 varieties of poinsettias, along with a selection of other colder-weather flowers and plants such as azaleas and cyclamen.
The flowers, brought in from a City of Toronto greenhouse in High Park, will brighten the Allan Gardens space and are expected to draw hundreds of visitors to the site.
"We usually have between 2,500 and 3,000 poinsettias at Allan Gardens," said Scott Nisbet, Toronto supervisor of greenhouse operations. "Allan Gardens (Conservatory) is big, so we spread them out through the whole conservatory."
Allan Gardens will also house Christmas tree topiaries throughout the flower show, though the poinsettias - including new and rare varieties - remain the big draw.
"We have the typical red (poinsettias) but there are three or four different tones of red, pink, pink and red, white - a lot of colours," Nisbet said.
Special candle lighting ceremonies will take place as the conservatory extends its hours Dec. 10, 11, 17 and 18. The conservatory will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all other days. The show kicked off Dec. 4.
Admission to all events is free, though the public is encouraged to bring along non-perishable food items to donate to food banks.
Allan Gardens is on the south side of Carlton Street between Jarvis Avenue and Sherbourne Street.