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The Garden

The Garden
Garden Concept & Statistics

Garden Concept & Statistics
Plant Collection

Plant Collection

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Open from sunrise to sunset

FoRRGS AGM

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026
Blog Events News #ReaderRockGarden #yyc

Welcome 2026!

February 26, 2026
Blog Events News

Registrations Are Now Open!

February 4, 2026
Blog Events News

About Us

1

Friends of Reader Rock Garden Society ("FoRRGS") is a non-profit, volunteer advisory group that works in conjunction with the City of Calgary to uphold the integrity and beauty of this Legacy Park/Garden and National Historic Site.

One man’s vision

In 1913, William Reader had a vision which transformed the city landscape into a garden oasis. By 1943, over 4500 plant varieties had been lovingly cultivated in the three acres of land adjacent to Union Cemetary.

Today, the rehabilitation and progress of the Reader Rock Garden continues as we strive to maintain Reader’s vision.

Learn more.

 

 

readerrockgarden

📍 Canada’s First Green Flag Award Winner 🏆
📍 First Legacy Park in Canada
📍 Canadian National Historic Site
📸 A quick heads up, photographers We love that Re 📸 A quick heads up, photographers We love that Reader Rock Garden is your go to spot for dreamy engagement, wedding, and family photos. But we’ve had a growing issue early this season with photographers (some without permits) stepping into flower beds to get the shot. We recognize most photographers are respectful and follow the rules, and we thank you. 🙏 However, we have some repeat offenders who continue stepping into beds. This threatens the delicate ecology and tramples the foliage. We also have photographers shooting commercially without permits. Please remember: this garden is a protected historic resource. If you’re shooting with a detachable lens and don’t have a permit, or if you’re stepping into flower beds, we may have to call bylaw enforcement. Honestly, we don’t want to. But we are starting to recognize some of you, and we don’t want it ruined for everyone. Let’s keep this place beautiful together. 🌿 How to book and reserve: 📍 Reader Rock Garden | Calgary 🗓️ Permits available May 1 through September 30 Public Photo Permit: $58.49 per hour 3 hour max, 80 people max Shared access to all areas (no blocked off lawn) Private Photo Permit: $175.48 per hour 2 hour max, 80 people max One lawn blocked off just for you, plus shared access to other lawns *$5.75 risk management fee applies. Fees subject to change. 🎬 Commercial shoot? A film permit is required through Film Friendly Calgary. 💳 Payment: Full payment due 14 days after booking (or at booking if less than 14 days away). ❌ No refunds. Public permits may be rescheduled with 14 days’ notice to parksvenues@calgary.ca. Private permits cannot be rescheduled. 🚶 Expect company. This is a public park. School groups and visitors enjoy the garden too. 🔗 Ready to book? Visit: www.calgary.ca/parks/reader-rock-garden-bookings/photography.html #yycphotography #yycphotographer #ReaderRockGarden #CalgaryParks #yycweddings
We’ve been getting a lot of questions, so here’s t We’ve been getting a lot of questions, so here’s the answer you’ve been waiting for ☕️ Our friends @readersgardencafe are officially OPEN starting today! 🎉 Head over to their page to ask questions, book a table, or check out the menu and special events. So excited to have them back this season. Go show some love and enjoy your time there ✨ #ReadersGardenCafe #NowOpen #SupportLocal #CafeVibes #SeasonalEats
🪨 Word spread slowly through Calgary’s early garde 🪨 Word spread slowly through Calgary’s early gardeners. Not through newspapers. Through dirt under fingernails. If you wanted a private tour of Reader’s grounds, you did not pay with money. You paid with a rock. A strange shape here. A bit of quartz there. Neighbours handed him their curious stones as thanks. Reader accepted them all. Soon the garden walls grew. Each stone had its own quiet story to tell. 🪨 But Reader did not stop there. He hunted harder. Sandstone from the Paskapoo formation. Ancient riverbeds under your feet. Petrified wood from near Drumheller. Trees turned to stone before time. Chert from Mount Rundle. Sharp and older than the mountains themselves. Tufa from Banff. So light it feels like trapped air. Tyndall limestone from Manitoba. Fossils sleep inside every grey slab. When that was not enough, he pried broken concrete from trash. He carved old sandstone buildings that had already lived one life. 🪨 One neighbour’s castoff became part of Calgary’s most beloved garden. A broken curb. A salvaged carving. A stone older than the Rockies. That is not landscape architecture. That is a man who loved rocks. Next time you visit, do not pick them up. Just look. Touch them with your eyes. Someone who cared that much put them there for you. 🪨 The Rocks of Reader. They have been waiting for you. Sources: Reader Rock Ramblings, 2009, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 3 City of Calgary Archives, Parks and Recreation Department Annual Reports (1913, W.R. Reader) #RocksOfYYC #ReaderRockGarden #HistoricLandscapes #RockGardens
Some flowers wait quietly. Daffodils? They make an Some flowers wait quietly. Daffodils? They make an entrance. Reader Rock Garden April 30, 2026 #Daffodils #SpringGarden #GardenDiaries #HelloSpring
Please join us this Saturday, May 2nd, 10:00 AM-No Please join us this Saturday, May 2nd, 10:00 AM-Noon at the Reader House, basement Potato Room for our Annual General Meeting. Come by, meet our fabulous Team; find out what we’ve been up to. Door Prizes and Light Refreshments too. We’re also calling for a Membership Director. Training will be provided for this two-year term. An independent self-starter, computer-savvy person would be most welcomed. And, only four meetings occur annually. A job description for this volunteer role is available upon request. If you’d like to support this special National Historic Site, come join US! Friends of Reader Rock Garden Society [Est. 2003]
You wouldn’t have recognized Reader Rock Garden ba You wouldn’t have recognized Reader Rock Garden back then, not the way it looks now. It was overgrown and forgotten, a ghost of a garden buried under years of neglect. 🌿😔 Then CRAGS showed up with tables and plants for their plant sale at the garden. No fanfare, just dirt under their fingernails and a little sale that pulled people together like roots reaching for water in the dark. 🌱🪑 They met William Reader’s own grandson, Roland Reader, standing in the ruin of his grandfather’s dream, where the tangled beds once held flowers that bloomed with purpose. A box of old glass slides became digital archives preserved in city records forever. 🖼️📚 For years while the garden slept, these people kept its memory breathing without rest. Someone knelt in the weeds and lobbied year after year for a forgotten garden. Someone even gave a lecture begging for volunteers to come help with the weeding. Then a leader from the Denver Botanic Garden walked the site and wrote a letter that changed everything, a beautiful letter of support that made Parks Management stop and listen. ✉️💪 Then the restoration came, slow and steady like spring after a long winter. And now, 2026 marks twenty years since Reader Rock Garden came back to life. Twenty years of bloom, twenty years of roots deepening into saved soil. 🎉🌿 Sometimes the first step is just showing up with a table full of plants. A pocket full of hope and two hands willing to get dirty. 🪴💚 With gratitude to the many who saved this place, including: Monika Korsten, Donna Balzer, Barry Erskine, Anne Charlton, Archie Lang, David H. Matthews, Sheila Paulson, Pete Savage, Rob Graham, Daryl Cariou, Harry Sanders, Michelle Reid, Doug Marter, Roland Reader, Rod Shaver, Llyn Strelau, Betty Rose, George Peacock, Panayoti Kelaidis, and so many more whose names deserve to be spoken. Source: “Reader Rock Ramblings,” Nov 2009, Page 1 + email from Monika Korsten to Donna Balzer. #CRAGS #PlantSale #ReaderRockGarden #YYCSpring GardenHistory
Going to Reader Rock Garden? 🌸🌿 Let’s keep it magi Going to Reader Rock Garden? 🌸🌿 Let’s keep it magical and rule friendly. Here’s the fun cheat sheet 👇 ✅ Stroll only on trails and grass. Plants have feelings too (okay, maybe not, but let’s protect them). 🚫 No picking flowers, seeds or fruit. Let nature do its thing. 👠 Wear good shoes. Those historic slopes are sneaky. 🐦 Wildlife is wild. Look, don’t lunch them. 🚌 Groups of 15 max. Spread the love, not the crowd. 🚗 Park on the west side (25 Ave S.E.). Bumpy roads are part of the charm. 🧴 Washrooms? Only available for *patrons* of the cafe! Plan ahead so you can enjoy your time in the park without needing a bathroom break OR by making reservations at the restaurant. 💛 Be kind to fellow garden explorers. Let’s keep this historic gem gorgeous for everyone. 📸 Take them but book time if you’re a professional! 👉 Full etiquette lowdown here: https://www.calgary.ca/content/dam/www/csps/parks/documents/locations/reader-rock-etiquette.pdf #ReaderRockGarden #YYCParks #HistoricHygge #GardenEtiquette #YYCLiving
🌿 Walk with us through Reader Rock Garden for a mo 🌿 Walk with us through Reader Rock Garden for a moment. What you’re seeing today almost didn’t exist again. Behind this beauty sits something you’d never guess: a Restoration Database. 💾🤓 Twenty-two years ago, a team built it from four of Reader’s original manuscripts plus a plant list from 1936. It holds the memory of original plants still alive when restoration began back in 2004. That database now tracks exactly where most plant species grow in this garden today. It also keeps historical plant names alive. That turned out to be pure gold, because so many plants have been renamed over the years. Without that work, matching Reader’s original vision would have been nearly impossible. So when you stop to smell a flower or trace a border with your fingers, you’re standing inside years of obsessive, beautiful research. The garden restoration from twenty years ago was shovels and dirt, but also books and computers. Next time you visit, you’ll see the data hidden in the petals. 🌸 Source: Reader Rock Ramblings, 09 2009, Page 4 #ReaderRockGarden #GardenRestoration #YYC #HistoricPreservation
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