Last weekend we visited Vancouver, British Columbia, just for a couple of days. Our weather on the first day of travel was wonderful, warm and sunny. But the second day it deteriorated back to cold and drizzly. We still managed to see some sights, on a trolley bus tour. It was too wet and cold for a visit to VanDusen Gardens on Saturday, but Sunday was a bit warmer and not quite as wet (still cloudy) so on Sunday, we stopped there on our way back home.
The VanDusen Botanical Garden is a 55-acre garden in the heart of a rather posh section of Vancouver, with 7,500 kinds of plants. The site was originally owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1966 the VanDusen Botanical Gardens Association formed to purchase the site and ensure that it was not developed for housing. Work on the garden began in 1971, and it was opened to the public in 1975.
I started out taking pictures of specific plants and beds. The area nearest the garden shop, where you buy your ticket and enter the garden, has smaller scale beds and a more intimate feel. It wasn't long before I realized, however, that this garden was built for long views. Vistas. Outlooks. What's around that curve? What's beyond those trees?
My well-thumbed, well-used map of the garden
I did get quite a few lovely close-ups of specimen plants, which I'll include in a future post. But for now, just come with me and look around. I'm hoping I can give you a feel for this lovely garden, but none of my pictures really does it justice. I took over 200 pictures that day, and only quit because my battery ran out of juice.
The Laburnum Walk (actually it continues around the bend to the right), unfortunately, just past the peak of bloom
This curving path will look and smell wonderful when all those lavenders bloom!
This amazing bed was so much bigger than it looks, some of those clumps were the size of a wing chair.
That Gunnera across the pond was the size of a pickup truck. I actually saw it from much further away, through some trees, and it drew me onward
The Grotto, dark and mysterious
The Grotto roof
Emerging from the other side
That's not the same Gunnera. Not the same pond either.
Also a different pond
Yet another pond (this one had an island in the middle of it)
Maze entrance
I hope you enjoyed coming along on this visit with me. I had left Nigel waiting for me in the car while I explored (don't worry, he had a book and was not even aware of the passage of time). But when I returned to the car, Nigel couldn't help commenting on my big smile.