January 2022 hours: Due to the latest provincial Covid restrictions, we will remain closed at Building 72 until further notice but continue to offer many services as our staff and volunteers work from home during our regular office hours. Please contact info@friendsofthefarm.ca for any inquiries.
Introducing the Latest Addition to our Boutique!
Building Canada’s Farm is a beautiful, engaging new book that explores the iconic buildings of the Central Experimental Farm and the storied history they represent. Each building was carefully situated in a pastoral landscape planned by the Farm’s founding director, William Saunders. Filled with stunning photographs and fascinating history by local authors and Friends of the Farm volunteers Richard Hinchcliff and Patricia Jasen, Building Canada’s Farm celebrates the Farm’s many achievements and the people responsible for them.
Available now in our online Boutique!
New for Visitors to the Ornamental Gardens!
Self-guided walking tour of the Ornamental Gardens – English with descriptions and map.
Guide des Jardins Ornementaux – Français avec descriptions et plan.
Upcoming Events
Stay tuned to our Events page and calendar for 2022 event details and news. Or you can follow us on Facebook for up-to-the-minute announcements.
Who we are
The Friends of the Central Experimental Farm are the volunteer gardeners who help protect, preserve, maintain, and enhance the Ornamental Gardens and the Dominion Arboretum.
Who we aren’t
For information about weddings, farm animals, the tropical greenhouse, photo sessions, plant identification, and more, please go to our FAQs page for helpful links to the answers you need.
Are you a member? We have new benefits: discounts at some local nurseries!
Support the Friends’ mission and receive membership benefits on Master Gardener Lectures.
Winter 2021 – New for the holidays in 2021! Our new set of Winter Greeting Cards reimagines our 2020 winter set, now available in our online Boutique! These sets of 6 cards feature new images from photographer Richard Hinchcliff (co-author of For the Love of Trees) of the Dominion Arboretum in all its glory. Click here to place your order while supplies last.
Celebration Benches
Three benches were dedicated in 2019 in the beautiful Arboretum, and many more have been installed since. Learn more about this Friends of the Farm program at Bench Program.
[The Merivale Shelterbelt project is finished.]
Boutique
Visit our Boutique to share books with friends and family all year long. We ship across Canada, to the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Blooms is the Friends’ contribution to Canada’s 150th and tells the story of this Ottawa gem – take a peek inside!
See how you can buy Blooms or our other publications for local pick-up or delivery within Canada.
The Friends gratefully acknowledge the very generous financial support of our Blooms book donors.
What’s Happening Now
See the Gardening Calendar for more garden events in the Ottawa area.
Read the Friends’ letters and responses to encroachment on the Farm. “It’s a research facility. It’s a public garden. It’s a heritage site. We’d like to see it stay that way.”
River Ward City Councillor Riley Brockington asks Ottawa Centre candidates of the 2019 election salient questions about the Central Experimental Farm, “Ottawa’s jewel in the crown.”
Collections
You may now visit the Arboretum and Ornamental Gardens Collections at the Farm, but please continue to respect COVID-19 social distancing guidelines and practice appropriate behaviour with respect to the gardens and Arboretum.
Self-guided walking tour of the Ornamental Gardens – English with descriptions and map. Guide des Jardins Ornementaux – Français avec descriptions et plan.
The Friends are located at Building 72 in the Arboretum during these Office Hours. Due to Covid-19, visitor access to our offices is limited. Please call us at 613-230-3276 during office hours if you’d like to stop by.