Greenheart Canopy Walkway – Winter Schedule
Between November 1st and March 31st, the Greenheart Canopy Walkway is only open to pre-booked group tours.
For more information on the Greenheart Canopy Walkway, please click here.
Visit us all year long, and take advantage of discounts on our courses and lectures.
Get 10% off at the Shop in the Garden and Plant Centre when you present your membership card. You can buy or renew your membership in person, or online on our website. Thank you for your support.
Not sure if your membership has expired? Give us a call at 604.822.4208.
About the Garden
Established in 1916, UBC Botanical Garden curates a collection of ca. 12,000 plants, representing approximately 8,000 taxa from temperate regions around the world. The Greenheart Canopy Walkway offers an umparalleled aerial view of the west coast forest canopy ecosystem 15 metres above ground. Our UBC Centre for Plant Research conducts world-class research on topics including plant adaptation, evolution, genomics,phytochemistry, plant physiology and biotic interactions, plant breeding, and plant biotechnology.
A message from our neighbours at Wesbrook Village:
Come visit the Wesbrook Welcome Centre (3378 Wesbrook Mall) and take part in great free family activities such as afternoon movies, story time, kids crafts, and more. For details, visit: www.DiscoverWesbrook.com.
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As temperatures continue to descend, plants are being conditioned to tolerate winter’s chill. The conditioning also works on people, too, but many of us fight it. Sweet gum trees (Liquidambar species) are a bit like us in that respect. Because these trees have large north-south geographic ranges, the seedlings that derive from the lower latitudes often do not respond to the regular seasonal cues that trigger dormancy in northern plants. Some individuals (we have the American L. styraciflua and two Chinese species, L. acalycina and L. formosanum) hold their colour well into late November, and some trees do not shed their leaves until the winter solstice.
On the other hand, broadleaved evergreens don’t shed their leaves in autumn at all. While most deciduous leaves are thin and papery, those of evergreens are often waxy and thick to help survive the winter. Many evergreens lose older leaves as new ones emerge in the spring, while others drop a few in summer. But in November, even evergreen plants are shutting down for the cold winter rest. Not so, the eucalypts. These aromatic Australian and Tasmanian trees and shrubs never actually become fully dormant. Eucalypts grow when conditions are right. As soon as the temperature starts to fall, activity slows, but if it warms up, growth starts exactly where it left off.
Finally, some truly deciduous plants only drop some of their leaves in the autumn. This phenomenon, called marcescence, is common in oaks, and other plants in the beech family. Marcescent leaves turn brown, but hang onto the branches, often making rasping, rattling noises in the wind. They eventually let go, usually in time for bud break in the spring.
 
The holiday season may be two months away, but the Shop in the Garden is already busy getting ready with these special offers:
- Holiday wreaths – Beautiful wreaths, door swags and centrepieces, all hand-made by our Friends of the Garden volunteers, will be available for sale, starting on November 24 (Read about last year’s wreath making)
- Member Days (Saturday, December 1 & Wednesday, December 5) – For UBC Botanical Garden members: 15% off on books and 25% off on all other regular priced merchandise
New Products in the Shop
We now sell indoor plants — orchids in various colours, ferns, jade, cactus and african violet plants in 4 and 6 inch pots.They are suitable for indoor gardeners and hostess gifts.
Other new products include:
- Black wrought iron door stops
- Reusable shopping bags in floral patterns
- Organic flannel handkerchiefs
- Small felt cushions with hand stitched applique
- Hand crafted wooden bird houses from Salt Spring Island
Special Book Signing Event with Christine Allen
November 21, 2012Â |Â 12 p.m.
Christine Allen, a well-known local gardening expert, will be at the Shop to chat and sign her new book, A Year at Killara Farm. It is a portrayal of her life on Killara Farm with her husband, moving thoughtfully through a year of gardening with a rich, detailed narrative that evokes the many pleasures of life in rural Southwestern BC. Come and meet the author and obtain your signed copy!
Allen, a master gardener, is also a lyrical writer, expressing the tiny details of life on the farm—the “winter jasmine, doggedly flowering on the fence by the chicken house,†the excitement of snowdrops opening at the end of January and strategies for ensuring a balance of colour in the foxgloves. Her twelve essays are illuminated by Kluckner’s masterful watercolours and interspersed with a delightful scattering of pressed flowers, gardening tips and seasonal recipes.Part memoir, part illustrated garden journal, part cookbook, A Year at Killara Farm truly celebrates a way of life that is intimately tied to the natural world and the rhythm of the seasons. The result is a charming book sure to inspire any gardener.
Our fall courses and lectures are open for registration. Check out the following workshops: Join our Research Manager, Daniel Mosquin, for a lecture on the hows and whys of plant collecting for UBC Botanical Garden and the UBC Herbarium. The presentation will focus on recent UBC collection trips within BC and note excursions elsewhere in western North America.
Wreath Making Course
Saturday, December 1, 2012, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
UBC Botanical Garden Reception Centre
$65 public, $60 garden members & UBC students
Learn tips and techniques for making your very own natural holiday creation. Participants will leave with their own beautiful and hand-made wreath to decorate their door or to gift to a friend.
Note: Space is limited. Register early to avoid disappointment.
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