Muttart Conservatory

I love plants (this is a weird thing to say)… and so I was really excited to check out the Muttart after living in YEG for almost a decade. It looks cool from the outside, so it must be cool on the inside, right?! Well… I wasn’t particularly wow-​ed. The plants were cool and it makes for a nice little stroll. I don’t see myself coming back often unless there were a particular event that was happening here. The restaurant in the building (Culina) is really good, so I would probably come back for that alone.
With that said, I have also seen a wedding held at the Muttart and it made for a stunning venue. It’s also worth checking out the gift shop, which sells a ton of locally made products from right here in Edmonton. It’s always nice to see community support!

Been here twice now — once with friends and another with my brother. It’s $ 13 and you can basically do the whole thing in under thirty minutes without rushing.
There are three pyramids filled with plants representing three different biomes plus an exhibit pyramid. The exhibit has been lame each time: breast cancer with pink flowers and Christmas-​themed with poinsettias and a sleigh. They also have statutes/​art inside each of the pyramids to represent the climates where the plants come from. I believe the purpose of the art is to make you feel like you’re in the biome the pyramid is representing, but honestly, it just comes off feeling like cultural appropriation, stereotyping and othering. I could have definitely done without the kitschy pots, masks, and hanging pieces.
If you’ve never been to a conservatory or botanical gardens, I would recommend. But if you’ve been to the Biodôme or Butchart Gardens, you will be sorely disappointed.

Since moving to this city coming here has become a regular past time. Especially when the in-​laws visit. And it makes a strangely romantic date spot. Especially at night when everything is lit up and glowing. I find something very calming about this place. I could sit in one of the pyramids and just reflect. In the winter it’s a great way to feel back in touch with nature.
The space is always very clean and modern. The rotating pyramid keeps you coming back while two of the pyramids, the tropical and dessert, never change and the 4^th changes with the season as it has local plants in it. You can take tours of each pyramid and every time the tour has always been different with them talking about different plants. Sometimes the tour guides aren’t the greatest and don’t know about every plant in the space. So you might ask a question about one and they may not know the answer which looks kind of bad. But you can also learn a lot so it’s worth doing if you have the time. There is a big free parking lot out front which for the city is great but admission I think is a little steep.
While visiting the Hobbit feature this summer I noticed an add for hobbit hole garden class. Among selling plants on site you can take classes and learn to make your own fairy garden, living wall or terrarium. You can sign up online through their city of Edmonton website. The classes are very expensive, too expensive in my opinion. They give you all the basic supplies and the class is run by their creative staff who work on the exhibits. The class was a lot of fun and you do everything literally from scratch. They allow you 2 hours and within that at the end they give you a tour of the pyramids. The room we were in was a little cramped but manageable.
I love coming here and definitely will treat myself to one of their classes again. At $ 120 it definitely isn’t something I would do all the time. The gift shop is really good too with lots of cute seasonal gifts and local merchandise for tourists.

The Muttart Conservatory (pronounced mutt-​tart, not mew-​tart or moo-​tart) is one of Edmonton’s most iconic attractions. As a child I remember my family taking my sister and I to the «pyramids» for weekend afternoon excursions. I distinctly remember the different themes, especially the arid desert because it was always hot and dry even in the middle of winter. I hadn’t been back in probably 15 years and thought it was time to explore the Muttart after a great brunch at Culina. In all honesty I was surprised by just how much hadn’t changed over the years. All the themes were the same, save for the featured exhibit which was displaying African art. Disappointingly, the 2 things I liked most about being there as a kid weren’t there anymore. First was the giant bird cage and birds in what I think was the Tropical exhibit, and then the scavenger hunt trolls weren’t there anymore! I thought that was the best interactive piece, especially for kids. Even when I was there it seemed like a lot of the children were bored wandering around the pyramids. I still think it’s a great way to spend an afternoon, but I just wish there was more activities to make the experience more interactive and memorable. We also took a tour, which I am sad to say was really lacklustre. It was pretty basic knowledge of plants and flowers and it didn’t really provide and interesting insight on the exhibits. One thing I will definitely recommend though is the gift shop. I was surprised by how many locally made gifts were available to buy.

One of Edmonton’s most defining structures is the collective of the Muttart Conservatory, those five glass pyramids that highlight the city’s pristine river valley. They’ve become a part of our local culture, an identifier for Canadians who aren’t from here.
And that’s why I’m all the more embarrassed that it took me this long to actually see inside this local landmark, situated along the North Saskatchewan since 1976. But let’s just keep that between us, shall we!
The Muttart is a botanical garden operated by the City of Edmonton, and includes three greenhouses, public gardens, and those four famous pyramids, three of which are permanent biomes (tropical, temperate, and arid regions), while the other is a rotating display of plant species.
Designed by the late architect Peter Hemingway, the Muttart is home to both common and exotic plant life from around the world, including hibiscus, pampas grass, cactus, palms, eucalyptus, white water lilies, agave, and the elephant foot tree.
This season’s feature pyramid houses ‘Journey to Middle Earth,’ which gives us a glimpse of what it would be like to live as a Hobbit! Expect to see part of the Shire, Smaug the Dragon and more!
It’s easy to make an afternoon out of the Muttart, which also includes a gift shop, inside lobby, outside patio, and the acclaimed Culina Muttart Café, offering fresh comfort food featuring some ingredients grown in-​house, as well as a selection of wine and craft beers!
You can also take in educational programs and camps, or one of their unique events, or book the venue for a private function. Parking is free.
I Heart Edmonton

Very well kept and beautiful. However, admission was quite pricey for a place that takes about an hour to experience. I think we had great expectations when viewing the Muttart from the outside, but once in, were a tad underwhelmed.
That being said, were definitely not proficient in botany and I’m sure couldn’t fully appreciate some of the rarer plants and flowers. For someone better educated than us this place is probably a dream. However, for the average ‘tourist’ it falls a little short.
Ps; when we went in the evening the café and gift shop were closed

Decent garden but certainly not priced appropriately for what it was. They also had a quarter of it blocked off during regular business hours for a private reception so paying customers couldn’t go in. Not very professional or smart. At least give people a discount or something if you plan to do that.

If you go with no agenda, you will probably rush through the pyramids and feel like you didn’t get your money’s worth. Take a seat on the benches and do some people watching or quietly study the flora and you will feel better about paying the admission. There are also self guided scavenger hunts to complete to stretch the visit out a little longer.

It’s not the Louvre Museum, it just looks like one
The place is great for taking pictures if you are in a flowery, chillax mood. Very vibrant and colorful. You will be able to see five unique glass pyramids. Arid, Temperate, Feature and Tropical that feature different flowers and plants around the world. It’ll just take an hour and a half or so to appreciate the view and take pictures. A must visit if you are visiting or living in Edmonton.

This place is friggin magical. You’re going to feel great just walking through the pyramids, breathing the air, looking around, feeling the nature vibes.
I’m sure you could learn a lot too,… not that I ever have. :)

With it’s four pyramids full of vibrant colorful flowers the Muttart is a treat for those wishing to escape noisy city life for a taste of unspoiled nature. There are four pyramids to wander through with the feature pyramid being changed regularly with different displays.
However even after taking the time to sit in each pyramid and read all the informational plaques (which surprisingly there are not that many of in any of the pyramids) the whole experience took me about an hour. I was also slightly disappointed with the «Kiss from a Rose» theme in the feature pyramid which was supposed to feature Roses, Hydrangeas, and Calla Lilies. There appeared to be very few roses and of the few sparsely sprinkled throughout the pyramid I was only able to note just two species.
The Muttart features some really awesome programming on special days like Earth Day and Mother’s Day however on any other normal day it really falls short of delivering an experience worth it’s somewhat inflated admission prices. I actually paid $ 12.00 today but upon Google searching the Muttart found a review from a traveler on a tourist website from 2003 who paid $ 5.00.
It is a beautiful well maintained attraction but I really feel the city needs to throw some money in the Muttart’s direction so they can expand their offerings and bring in entertainment and other programming on a more regular basis.

During the freezing cold winter months in Edmonton, this is one of the place you might want to check it out. It has gardens sectioned according to its kind of climate it would have been in i. e tropical, desert.
It looks big on the outside but it’s an average sized conservatory rather. I have been to conservatories that literally make you feel as though you’re in a huge garden with lots of luscious greens almost giving you a brush as you pass. A pretty average conservatory.
Nothing overly special about it but nothing bad about it either. Great for families with little children.

The Muttart is filled with beautiful flowers and is a warm tabs colorful treat to the senses in the middle of an Edmonton Winter!
So why do I give them 3 stars you say?
I’ve only visited the Muttart on special activity days and without the live music, art, and projects for the kiddos, I don’t think it would be nearly as fun and I’d find the admission fee too rich for my blood
I will definitely continue to appreciate the Muttart extra lots on free admission days.

Instantly recognizable by the unique 5 glass pyramids (hey, the Louvre in Paris only has 1), the Muttart is a neat place to spend an afternoon.
Parking is available to the N of the building.
The conservatory is divided into 4 zones: Arid, Temperate, Feature, and Tropical — one in each of the 4 larger pyramids. The middle one is really an area with a couple of tables.
Arid — desert landscapes, with lots of cacti.
Temperate — reminds me of Vancouver, BC. Same plants too!
Feature — this changes every few months. Today it was a «Thanksgiving Harvest» theme, with lots of pumpkins and squash.
Tropical — banana trees, pineapples, palms, and taros.
One of the more useful features now is that they have QR codes attached to the wall in each section, which directs your smartphone to a walking tour page. The pages tell you how far to walk, which plants to look for, as well as fun facts about the fauna.
The conservatory is actually quite small. Even while reading all of the signs, it took less than 1h for me to get through the whole place.
If you haven’t been here before, and want to learn a thing or two about plants, this is actually a pretty decent place to go.

I come here fairly often with the kids if we have an hour or so to spare or if there’s an event going on. The kids love going through the different environments even though they’ve been here many times and the feature pyramid is always interesting.
It’s one of the best places to visit in the middle of the winter too as the smells of spring and summer and warm humid air do wonders for your psyche.