One of the places we love to visit on our “Urban Trekking” outings in Vancouver is the wonderful VanDusen Botanical Garden, located on Oak St., at West 37th Avenue.
At one time, all of what is now Vancouver was a rain forest, part of the Indigenous Musqueam Nation’s land. Then “the settlers” came, in the mid to late 1800’s, and the logging began. What is now the VanDusen “property” was turned into a golf course, but in 1975 the Vancouver Park Board took it over and created this beautiful 55 acre (22 hectare) botanical garden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VanDusen_Botanical_Garden
http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/vandusen-botanical-garden.aspx
Recently we “trekked” there, and focused on trees and greenery, rather than specifically on flowers. Here are a few photos from that day:
Sedums in bloom at entrance to gardens.
Grasses blowing in the wind….
Sedums growing on a huge boulder, with no soil! Beautiful.
Golden Japanese Cedar tree. (Cryptomeria japonica “Sekkan-sugi”)
Lilies…the white ones seem to have the loveliest fragrance…
Trident Maple tree. (Acer buergerianum)
Giant Sequoia tree, (Sequoiadendron giganteum), with Western Sword Fern (fern native to this area)
Dalmatian Cranesbill (Geranium dalmaticum)
Masterwort (Astrantia)
Succulents in concrete containers on the patio.
“What was Paradise but a Garden?”
—William Coles
