Catharine East
Garden
The Catharine East Garden is on John Street South. Traveling south on John Street, it is on your left just before the short bridge crossing the Avon River. The sign for the garden is easily seen from the street. It is directly across John Street from the Avondale Cemetery.
There is parking on McLagan Drive just before you reach the garden. In fact, Catharine East garden is just a short walk from the Corcoran Iris Garden. Parking is also available on T. J. Dolan Drive.
Photo: Anu MacIntosh-Murray
Catharine East lived in Stratford her entire life, and was very involved in community activities. She died in 1981, and this garden was established with a bequest from the estate of her husband Lawrence.
She must have had a strong connection with gardens, because there is a second Catharine East garden in the
peaceful courtyard of Stratford General Hospital.
Photo: Anu MacIntosh-Murray
If you enjoy walking in a natural setting, the T. J. Dolan Natural Area is well worth a visit across John Street just south of Catharine East Garden. Spring bird watchers find that area particularly rewarding, and there are often excellent bird sightings in Catharine East Gardens.
The larger garden was designed to display a collection of flowering and ornamental shrubs, perhaps to help home gardeners decide if those varieties would be suitable for their own properties.
Did You Know?
The overall design of the garden is a letter C, for Catharine.
Photo: Doug Reberg
In spring, the garden has fine displays of lilacs.
Summer displays include unusual varieties, such as large specimens of Bottlebush Buckeye, Purple Smokebush,
other shrubs such as Gold Drop Potentilla, and seldom-seen specimens, such as Amur Tamarisk
See how many you can spot!
Photo: Anu MacIntosh-Murray
Tamarisk (also known as Salt Cedar) has a reputation for being highly invasive, particularly when planted near water.
A single Tamarisk can produce thousands of seeds, so it has potential to spread widely. For example, some sections of of the Colorado River are congested with Tamarisk.
However, it is also said that in regions with cold winter temperatures, such as Ontario, invasiveness is not a great problem and the Catharine East Tamarisk does not seem to have spread. Still, if planted it should be monitored with caution.
The Ontario Invasive Plant Council has identified Tamarisk as an “alert species”.
Photo: Doug Reberg