Exploring the VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver

I’ve visited Vancouver at least a dozen times in my life — always an enjoyable time in such a beautiful setting.  My last visit a few months ago was the first time I’d visited its VanDusen Botanical Garden, about 4 miles south of downtown Vancouver.  The summer day was most pleasant, the garden beautiful, and my brother and I enjoyed our exploration.

The VanDusen Botanical Garden was built on a former golf course.  It was created by a group of gardening enthusiasts and sits on 55 acres in the Shaughnessy neighborhood.  The garden opened in 1975.  Lumber magnate Whitford VanDusen contributed $1 million toward the purchase of the land and became the garden’s namesake.

The VanDusen gardeners have been active since the garden opened, planting thousands of trees, flowers and shrubs.  Vancouver’s climate is fairly mild (similar to Seattle’s), so one can grow a lot of different types of plants here.  It’s said the garden contains more than three thousand different plant species.

(Visitor Center)

Your visit begins at the Botanical Garden’s visitor center, where you’ll purchase your ticket and get some suggestions on things that might be worth seeing.  You’ll have the opportunity to wander the many paths in the garden, past flower beds, trees and several lovely ponds….

The photos in this blog are of some of my favorite scenes from our visit:

Pink dogwood trees have become a favorite of mine.  So very colorful and pretty!

There are lots of ducks and turtles who have taken residence in the waters of the Botanical Garden….

There is even a gigantic owl in residence….

The garden has a popular hedge maze made of 3,000 pyramidal cedars, with an observation terrace if you want to study the maze from above….

(Part of the maze)

There are a few works of art scattered throughout the garden, including two weathered totem poles….

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The Botanical Garden is a good place for wedding and engagement photos…

We spent more than a half day exploring the garden, after which we had lunch in the Visitor center’s cafe.  There is also an upscale onsite restaurant (Shaugnessy’s) which I definitely look into visiting next time we’re in town.

We really enjoyed this lovely garden and would highly recommend it.  If you want information about a visit, please refer to the Garden’s website.

You can read the follow-up post on the VanDusen Gardens at this link.