After my morning coffee at Mylk Uncookies I walked around Allan Gardens since I'm hardly in this area and with an hour to kill I decided it was a great time to sight-see for a while.
There are no signs that indicate where it is you're walking in to and the glass dome you're walking towards looks mendaciously devoid of life until you're just a few feet from it. Being a weekday morning there was no huge crowd and I had no idea what to expect and in what scope.
You walk in and you're in the outer layer of the circular area beneath the dome whose centre is occupied by a small empty space with a bench and flowers to it's backdrop, this area is filled with taller plants/trees including banana and palm trees. Stemming on both side from this central area is a large area filled with intimate walkways that bring you up close to a surfeit of plants, many of which reminded me of plants found back in Sri Lanka. I might have gone a little overboard taking pictures since the morning sun was at a great angle for some of the plants and just gave some great photo ops. Very good diversity of flora even including a cacti Some highlights for me were the small ponds in the labyrinth of walkways including a couple of goldfish ponds and a mini watermill! There was also a pathway that ended at a wooden door which I thought was very "Secret Garden" esque (got a picture of it).
If you want to see some colour in your life especially in the winter I would highly recommend checking this place out, it would also prove to be a great shelter from the cold.
The only bone to pick I have with them is that they are only open till 5, but they are open weekends so that does help compensate.
Thing to note: While walking around crazy lady approached me asking me if I thought this earth of ours was going to survive. I said I hoped so.