Rainbow Garden

Rainbow Garden Koi Pond

The beautiful Rainbow Garden area sits on the Canadian side of the Rainbow Bridge. While some tourists may drive right past the Rainbow Garden after crossing into Canada, but it is a beautiful combination of flowers, sculptured shrubbery and a peaceful koi pond.

The Rainbow Garden was constructed when the Rainbow Bridge and Carillon Tower was erected in 1937. The complex was designed by the father of Canadian landscape and architecture Howard Dunington-Grubb and assisted by J.V. Stensson and architect William Somerville.

The fountains and sculptures located in the Park were designed by Florence Wyle, Frances Loring and Elizabeth Wyn Wood who were all well known Canadian sculptors from Toronto.

The purpose of the Rainbow Gardens was to connect the Oaks Garden Theatre complex and the Rainbow Bridge. The Oakes Garden Theatre is a grass covered Greco-Roman style amphitheater surrounded by a limestone staircase, and features lovely fountains, urns and ornamental statuary.

The Garden area is beautifully surrounded by a large ornamental stone wall which helps create a feeling of seclusion and serenity, despite it’s proximity to the many high-rise hotels and the Falls themselves. One can walk through this tranquil setting and forget the hustle and bustle of the always crowded Clifton Hill just 100 yards north.

The Gardens are also home to the Secret Garden Restaurant which has played home to such American national television shows as Regis and Kelly and Canadian nationally televised News Years Eve broadcasts.

The Rainbow Garden complex has a plaque at the entrance to the Oak Garden Theatre dedicating the entire area to Thomas McQuesten who was instrumental in the building a number of Canadian Parks in the Ontario horseshoe region. 

A trip to Niagara Falls Ontario would not be complete without a stroll through the Rainbow Gardens.