UBC Botanical Garden

Last updated
UBC Botanical Garden
UBC Botanical Garden water.jpg
Water feature in the UBC Botanical Garden
UBC Botanical Garden
Type Botanical garden
Location6804 S.W. Marine Drive,
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6T 1Z4
Coordinates 49°15′14″N123°15′04″W / 49.254°N 123.251°W / 49.254; -123.251 ,
Area44 hectares (110 acres)
Established1916;108 years ago (1916)
Founder John Davidson
Operated by University of British Columbia
StatusOpen to the public
ParkingOn site
Connecting transportBus, campus shuttle
DirectorDee Ann Benard
FacilitiesInformation centre, gift shop, toilets, shelter.
Website botanicalgarden.ubc.ca

The UBC Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located on the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, British Columbia. It maintains a documented living collection of temperate plants for the purposes of education, research, conservation, community outreach, and public display. [1] Established in 1916, it is the oldest botanical garden at a university in Canada.

Contents

It is a member of the Canadian Garden Council, American Public Gardens Association, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and the Plant Collections Network.

History

John Davidson, or Botany John, was appointed British Columbia's first provincial botanist in 1911. He was given two assignments: complete a botanical survey of the province's flora and establish a botanical garden and herbarium. [2] Davidson first established an arboretum, nursery, and botanical garden on the hospital lands of Essondale in Coquitlam with the assistance of the patients.

The government then set aside two acres of land (0.8 ha) at the Provincial Colony Farm in Essondale (later called Riverview) near New Westminster for the establishment of the first botanical garden. After the closure of the Office of the Provincial Botanist in 1916, the botanical garden relocated to the UBC campus in West Point Grey. This involved the transport of thousands of perennials and shrubs across forty kilometres of rough roads to the new location.

At UBC, the garden's original site was at the "Old Arboretum". All that remains of it today are the trees planted in 1916 by John Davidson. The old arboretum is now home to many buildings including the First Nations House of Learning.

In 1951, the entire UBC campus was designated as a botanical garden. The head of the Botany Department, Dr. T.M.C. (Tommy) Taylor, was appointed the Garden Director.

After several years of changing scope and mandate, eventually in 1966 land was set aside near Thunderbird Stadium on the south end of the University campus for a stand-alone botanical garden. Dr. Roy Taylor was hired as the first director of UBC Botanical Garden at its current site.

Features

The garden measures approximately 44 hectares (440,000 m2 / 110 acres) and includes a curated collection of 120,000 accessions representing over 6000 taxa with a significant collection of Magnolia, Acer (plant), Sorbus (mountain ash, Styracaceae (storax family), Rhododendron and climbing plants. [3] Visitors to the garden can expect to spend a minimum of one hour exploring the various areas of the garden.

There is also a series of small gardens of special interest and naturalized areas that dot the grounds of UBC Botanical Garden, including: the Pacific Slope Garden, Arbour Garden, Winter Garden, Perennial Borders Garden, Grow Green Demonstration Area, Contemporary Garden, Cattail Marsh, Walk in the Woods Trail.

UBC Botanical Garden also administers the Nitobe Memorial Garden , a traditional Japanese garden located on the north end of campus.

Research

In 2002, the UBC Centre for Plant Research became the research arm of the UBC Botanical Garden. The Centre for Plant Research examines topics such as plant adaptation, genomics and phytochemistry. The Botanical Garden and the Centre for Plant Research are both encompassed by UBC's Faculty of Science.

Education

Since 2012, UBC Botanical Garden has offered an 8-month provincially accredited Horticulture Training Program (HTP). The full-time program, which runs from August-April, introduces students to, among other areas, principles and techniques of landscape construction and design, garden ecology, plant biology and health, the role of soil in natural and constructed landscapes, ornamental and food crop management, and hands-on landscape and garden management. [4]

Awards

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrix Farrand</span> American landscape architect (1872–1959)

Beatrix Cadwalader Farrand was an American landscape gardener and landscape architect. Her career included commissions to design about 110 gardens for private residences, estates and country homes, public parks, botanic gardens, college campuses, and the White House. Only a few of her major works survive: Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden on Mount Desert, Maine, the restored Farm House Garden in Bar Harbor, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, and elements of the campuses of Princeton, Yale, and Occidental.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of British Columbia</span> Public university in Canada

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and Okanagan, in British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1908, it is the oldest university in British Columbia. With an annual research budget of $747.3 million, UBC funds 9,675 projects annually in various fields of study within the industrial sector, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore Botanic Gardens</span> Tropical garden located in Singapore

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a 165-year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Botanic Gardens has been ranked Asia's top park attraction since 2013, by TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards. It was declared the inaugural Garden of the Year by the International Garden Tourism Awards in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arboretum</span> Botanical collection composed exclusively of trees

An arboretum is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arboreta are in botanical gardens as living collections of woody plants and are intended at least in part for scientific study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta Botanical Garden</span>

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is a 30 acres (12 ha) botanical garden located adjacent to Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Incorporated in 1976, the garden's mission is to "develop and maintain plant collections for the purposes of display, education, conservation, research and enjoyment."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden</span> Botanical garden at the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town

Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Prior to 1 September 2004, the institute was known as the National Botanical Institute.

The Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) is a heritage-listed botanical garden located in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. It covers extensive environmentally protected areas, historic sites, and culturally relevant gardens from Burlington to neighbouring Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the major tourist attractions between Niagara Falls and Toronto, as well as being a significant local and regional horticultural, education, conservation, and scientific resource.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Arboretum</span> Botanical garden in Boston, Massachusetts

The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Butte Garden and Arboretum</span> Botanical garden and amphitheater in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Red Butte Garden and Arboretum consists of a botanical garden, arboretum, and amphitheatre operated by the University of Utah, in the foothills of the Wasatch Range in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is open year-round to the public. Red Butte Garden contains over 100 acres (0.40 km2) of botanical gardens and several miles of hiking trails through native vegetation. Red Butte Creek runs within the northern part of the garden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Landscape Arboretum</span>

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is a 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) horticultural garden and arboretum located about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Chanhassen, Minnesota at 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska, Minnesota. It is part of the Department of Horticultural Science in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota, and open to the public every day of the year except Thanksgiving and Christmas. An admission fee is charged, and annual memberships are available. It is the Upper Midwest's largest public garden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park</span> United States historic place

Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, which includes the Coe Hall Historic House Museum, is an arboretum and state park covering over 400 acres (160 ha) located in the village of Upper Brookville in the town of Oyster Bay, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nichols Arboretum</span> Arboretum at the University of Michigan campus

Nichols Arboretum, locally known as the Arb, is an arboretum on the campus of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Arb is located adjacent to the Huron River, and features over 400 species, including 110 species of trees, in a varied, hilly landscape. A signature feature of Nichols Arboretum is the W. E. Upjohn Peony Garden, which features the largest collection of heirloom peonies in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens</span> Botanical garden in East Lansing, Michigan

The Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens are horticultural gardens, with a landscape arboretum, located on Bogue Street on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Michigan. The gardens are open to the public daily without charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum</span> National Historic Landmark

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum is a teaching and research facility of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the site of historic research in ecological restoration. In addition to its 1,260 acres (5 km2) in Madison, Wisconsin, the Arboretum also manages 520 acres (210 ha) of remnant forests and prairies throughout Wisconsin. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021, in recognition for its role as a pioneer in the field of ecological restoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornell Botanic Gardens</span> Botanical garden

The Cornell Botanic Gardens is a botanical garden located adjacent to the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York. The Botanic Gardens proper consist of 25 acres (10 ha) of botanical gardens and 150 acres (61 ha) of the F. R. Newman Arboretum. The greater Botanic Gardens includes 40 different nature areas around Cornell and Ithaca, covering 4,300 acres (1,700 ha).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Guelph Arboretum</span>

The University of Guelph Arboretum is an arboretum organized by the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. It was formally established in 1970 by the university and aims to conserve biodiversity and connect people with nature through teaching, research, and community outreach. The space is 165 hectares and is open throughout the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden</span> United States historic place

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a 66-acre (27 ha) botanical garden located at 8525 Garland Road in East Dallas, Texas, on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake.

John Davidson was a notable Scottish-Canadian botanist.

John Caspar Wister was one of the United States' most highly honored horticulturists.

References

  1. "Vision & Mission". UBC Botanical Garden. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  2. "Historical Timeline". UBC Botanical Garden. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  3. "Plant Collections". UBC Botanical Garden. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  4. "Horticulture Training at the Garden". UBC Botanical Garden. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  5. "UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Horticulture Master Plan". Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  6. "UBC Botanical Garden - Greenheart Canopy Walkway wins Experience of the Year Award". Gardens British Columbia. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  7. "Dr. Tara Moreau awarded 2020 Marsh Award for Education in Botanic Gardens". UBC Botanical Garden. Retrieved July 19, 2021.