A great introduction to what you can see here at UBC Botanical Garden, all visitors are welcome to join a free (with paid admission) guided tour that gives a general overview of the Garden, such as our Alpine, Native, and Physics gardens.
Tours are approximately 60 minutes, and are held at 1:00 pm every day in August.

Friends of the Garden (FOGs)
Recruiting Volunteers
We are looking for individuals who love nature and would like to become a Friends of the Garden volunteer!
We are a group of dedicated individuals who support UBC Botanical Garden in many ways and enjoy:
- Gardening
- Talking and learning about plants
- Propagating plants
- Arranging flowers
- Working in the Shop in the Garden
- Organizing community events
We offer new volunteers a 14-week orientation program. The next session will start on September 18, 2013.
Applications are in the Shop in the Garden and online.
For more information on how to become a FOGs volunteer, please contact Susan Bridgeman by email or at 604.224.3014.
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.
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Spend a Saturday morning exploring and taking part in creative hands-on learning with our family program leaders. Designed for families with children aged 5-11, these fun sessions offer an opportunity to discover UBC Botanical Garden. Cost includes garden admission so that families can stay and discover the garden at their own pace after the program. Why not pack a lunch and have an adventurous Saturday with us!
Dates: Saturday, August 10 and/or 24, 2013
Time: 10:00 am to 11:45 am
Location: Meet at UBC Botanical Garden Reception Center
Cost/Session: $25 per family*, $15 per family* for garden members and UBC students. Applicable taxes and fees included.
Register online or in person at the gatehouse during regular hours.
Please note: Advance registration required. All children must be accompanied by their parent(s) for the entire session. Most activities take place outside; dress for the weather.
* Cost covers a family up to 2 adults and 4 children, and includes general garden admission.
Program Details
August 10, 2013: Animal Neighbours
How well do you know your neighbours? No, not the people next door, the wildlife kind! Come learn about our animal friends who live so close to us in forests and parks around Vancouver. Venture into the Garden and find habitats frequently used by our animal neighbours. Learn to recognize their tracks and take home some tracks you will make yourself.
August 24, 2013: Plant Explorers (Rescheduled from July)
UBC Botanical Garden is filled with fascinating plants of all shapes and colours! Become a plant explorer for the day – hunt for flowers of different types and leaves of various shapes, then create your own plant press to preserve the treasures you have found. Take home the skills and supplies you need to create your very own pressed plant collection.

All of this summer sunshine is a perfect contrast to the dreary weather we endure in winter. But in the garden, non-stop sunshine can be too much of a good thing, and barring August rain, the remedy is shade. In the Botanical Garden, the David C. Lam Asian Garden with its tall coniferous cover and maturing under-storey naturally comes to mind. This is a cool place to walk and enjoy the amazing diversity of Asian plants. Hornbeams, persimmons, mountain ash and styrax relatives vie for space in the understorey with the maples and magnolias. Even at the entrance to the garden visitors can enjoy arboreal delights, such as the recently planted, summer-flowering chitalpa (x Chitalpa tashkentensis ‘Pink Dawn’) and down the boardwalk, the magnificent false pistachio ( Tapiscia sinensis) and truly August-flowering Yakushima crepe myrtle ( Lagerstroemia fauriei).
The Carolinian Forest Garden, though less than ten years old, is beginning to show some structure and provide considerable shade, as well. Liriodendrons, planted in the hundreds as a nurse crop, will eventually be removed when the oaks, ashes, buckeyes and other sun-lovers are large enough to themselves shelter the more shade-loving trees and shrubs. Look for the chalky-white striped stems of the moosewood (Acer pensylvanicum) and the gigantic white-backed, paddle-like leaves of bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla), two classic eastern understorey trees. Like the Asian Garden, the BC Rainforest Garden (a.k.a. the BC Native Garden) has its share of lofty conifers and understorey plantings, but here, all of the plants are native to our local region. The Rainforest Garden also has a sizeable pond, around which are benches tucked into leafy bowers. These are perfect for whiling away the time listening to birds and watching dragonflies.
Finally, the Main Lawn area and adjacent Winter Garden are both well endowed with a variety of trees, large and small. Many are strategically located close to the E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden, where sunshine is the needed tonic for that garden’s amazing non-stop floral diversity. Within the Alpine Garden itself are several interesting small trees, including a Mt. Wellington peppermint (Eucalyptus coccifera), Antarctic beech (Nothofagus antarctica) and canyon maple (Acer grandidentatum). Near the western end of the Main Lawn is a small grove of young oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) trees. It is said that Hippocrates, the “father†of western medicine, lectured to his students under the broad crown of an ancient oriental plane on the Greek island of Kos. Take a moment to relax under these still young trees and consider their history and the inspiration that nature brings us, and enjoy the shade.

The Garden Centre continues to offer a diverse selection of seasonal perennials, flowering shrubs, uncommon trees and native plants; many are propagated on site at UBC Botanical Garden.
We also have a great selection of pots in various shapes and sizes that fit your every need. Check out some statuary that will add a spark of interest to any garden: “Professor Toadâ€, birdbaths, the “Three Gracesâ€, and even a stylish “Mother Nature†face to adorn a lovely fence or patio wall!
This summer, block out the sun in style with a colourful sunhat from our Shop in the Garden. Our wide selection also includes cute children’s hats that are reversible and have UPF 50+.
All proceeds from the Shop in the Garden and Garden Centre support the research, conservation, education, and community outreach of UBC Botanical Garden. Thank you for your support!
Summer Reading Recommendations
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While enjoying our refreshing, cool summers, the garden literature section of the Shop can transport you to the steamy heat of many exotic places.
Scent of Scandal moves from a hillside in Northern Peru where a little slipper orchid of exquisite beauty is discovered, to Sarasota, Florida, where the orchid illegally ends up, at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. This is a real case of orchid smuggling that took place in 2003, and the book’s subject is the maniacal obsession to possess and name this orchid.
In Oaxaca Journal Oliver Sacks, in his inimitable relaxed but informative style, takes us on a tour with the New York Botanical Garden to southern Mexico in search of ferns. We learn that he has been fascinated with these primitive plants since childhood and he takes part in the tour as a member of the American Fern Society. The account is packed with interesting tidbits not only on ferns but also on the history, anthropology and cuisine of this area and on his travel companions as well.
Waking up in Eden is a journalist’s account of her move to the Hawaiian island of Kauai to work at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, and her discovery that all is not well in this paradise. Invasive species (plants, animals and humans) are causing the rapid disappearance of native plants.

WorkshopsÂ
Fall Pruning Workshop
Saturday, October 5, 2013, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
UBC Botanical Garden Reception Centre
$45 public, $35 garden members & UBC students
A blend of classroom and field discussion with hands on learning of the basics of pruning.
Sunday, October 6, 2013, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
UBC Botanical Garden Garden Pavilion
$80 public, $70 garden members & UBC students
Join Dana Cromie, UBC Botanical Garden’s Artist in Residence, for this one-day workshop and get inspiration to draw your favourite botanical subject.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
UBC Botanical Garden Reception Centre
$40 public, $30 garden members & UBC students
Learn to grow your own sprouts and enjoy fresh and local vegetables all winter. Take home the skills and supplies you need to start growing your own sprouts right away.
Saturday, November 30, 2013, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
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.
For more information and to register for our courses and lectures, please click here
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As humans, we are drawn to the extreme – the gigantic, exciting, adorable, implausible and incredible. Though peaceful and tranquil on the surface, gardens are a place of mystery, intrigue, exploitation, and tremendous extremes. Discover how plants around the world have adapted to climb, defend themselves, attract animals for pollination, and survive extreme weather conditions.
From extreme climbers to extremely strange flowers, our new drop-in guided tour is a great way to discover the different gardens while learning about the extremely interesting plants growing at UBC Botanical Garden.
Tours are offered daily at 1:00 p.m. in August.
Join a tour for a thrilling journey through the world of extreme plants! Click here to see the latest updates on our tour schedule, or call our Gatehouse at 604.822.4208 to confirm tour availability.
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