High Park

High Park covers about a hundred and sixty-one hectares and came to the city in 1873 from John Howard, on condition it stay free and public. About a third of the park is kept in a natural state, much of it black oak savannah, an ecosystem now rare in Ontario, with grasses and wildflowers under widely spaced oaks; the city runs prescribed burns each spring to maintain it, since the savannah depends on fire to suppress invading shrubs. Its Somei-Yoshino cherry trees, the first planted in 1959 as a gift from the citizens of Tokyo, bloom in late April or early May and draw crowds so heavy the park closes to cars and sometimes entirely.

History

In 1836 the architect and surveyor John George Howard bought 160 acres west of Toronto for a sheep farm and in 1837 built Colborne Lodge, a Regency cottage; the name High Park is credited to his wife Jemima, since the lodge stands on the highest point of the Humber Bay shore. In 1873 the Howards agreed to give their country property to the city on condition that it be held for the free use of the citizens for ever, with no alcohol served, and the park opened in 1876 together with 176 acres bought from Percival Ridout; the rest of the estate, with Colborne Lodge, passed to the city after Howard's death in 1890, and the couple are buried in the park (Wikipedia, High Park).

What's there

• The black oak savannah - a rare fire-dependent ecosystem inside a city.
• The cherry blossom - Japanese trees planted from 1959, blooming for about a week.
• The prescribed burns - deliberate spring fires maintaining the savannah.
• Grenadier Pond - a large pond with herons and winter skating.

When to go

Late April or early May for cherry blossom, a window of roughly a week that shifts each year and is tracked by a bloom watch. April to October otherwise. Burns happen on short notice in spring.

Before you go

Cherry blossom week brings crowds so large the park restricts access, and in some years it has been closed entirely during peak bloom. The window is short and unpredictable.

Nearby

Downtown Toronto lies east; the Scarborough Bluffs are far east.

Key facts