Niagara Parks Floral Showhouse

Horticulture has been part of the Niagara Parks almost from the start. In 1894 two small wooden-framed greenhouses were put up in Queen Victoria Park to force and propagate plants for the park's flower beds. Two years later the superintendent recommended building a display house open to the public, and in 1897–1898 a heated conservatory measuring 60 by 20 feet (about 18 by 6 m) was erected, together with a propagating house and a fernery. In 1909 two temporary wooden structures of 28 by 40 feet were added.

Work on the present complex began in 1945, on a site midway between the old greenhouses and the Canadian Niagara Power Company generating station. Digging the basement and boiler room was slowed by shallow bedrock and river boulders, some of them weighing five to six tons, which had to be blasted with dynamite. The new greenhouses opened in November 1946, and the chrysanthemum show staged that year has become the longest-running exhibit of the Niagara Parks.

The north and south houses were added in 1951. In June 1980 a reception centre and garden shop under a large glazed ceiling completed the ensemble. In 2006, for its 60th anniversary, the facility was given the name Niagara Parks Floral Showhouse.

The complex now consists of three display houses, north, centre and south, entered through a reception pavilion. The 1946 section combined some 11,000 square feet (just over 1,000 m²) of glass in the work-room area with 3,000 square feet of bulb storage, all heated with hot water from a central boiler room set in the basement. The two houses added in 1951 measure 25 by 50 feet, roughly 7.5 by 15 m, according to a local history site.

The 1980 pavilion, covering about 5,625 square feet (nearly 520 m²), is the most striking part: its glass dome rises to 40 feet, about 12 metres, which allows the horticulturists to grow tall palms and other tropical trees beneath it. The south house is given over to tropical plants all year, while the other spaces change with each show. The sources consulted do not name the building's architect.

The showhouse gathers orchids, tropical plants, palms and ferns, succulents and cacti, and house plants. Up to 20,000 plants are grown every year for its display spaces; according to a local history site, the production greenhouses also supply about 175,000 annual and perennial plants for the beds of the Niagara Parks.

Seven shows follow one another through the year. The oldest is the chrysanthemum show, which runs for about five weeks between October and November: in 2022 it brought together 1,350 chrysanthemums in 35 varieties, 200 accent plants such as ferns, birds of paradise and palms, and a chrysanthemum tree as its centrepiece. An orchid show, holiday displays and, more recently, living plant sculptures in the mosaiculture technique complete the calendar.

The showhouse stands beside the Niagara Parkway, a few minutes' walk south of the Horseshoe Falls and the Table Rock Centre, with paid parking next to the building. An hour is usually enough to see it all.

Autumn, with the chrysanthemum show, is the most anticipated season, but the seven annual shows keep the displays changing all year and the tropical house makes a warm refuge in the depths of winter. A visit combines naturally with the falls themselves and, further north along the Parkway, with the Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory in their botanical garden.