OASIS OF GREEN ABOUND
West End Home To Green Spaces

by Beth Lopez
(click images to enlarge)

In the West End, we are blessed with parks. Obviously, Stanley Park stands out as the biggest and the best. Any tourist who comes to Vancouver goes to Stanley Park. We at The West End Journal have an entire column dedicated to Stanley Park because it’s our crown jewel. However, it is not the only green space one can visit.

Dotted around the West End are many small oases of green with convenient spots to sit. These mini parks are also under the care of the Park Board. How many of these little spots of green calm have you enjoyed?

I also note that parklets are springing up throughout the West End. These are not the responsibility of the Park Board, but are the spaces being taken away from parking and turned into seating areas. There are several along Davie and along Robson. These go in with permission from the city, and most of these are maintained by nearby businesses or the West End Business Improvement Association.

Take a stroll along the paths of Barclay Heritage Square.

There are two of mini parks along Gilford. There is one between Haro and Stovold Lane, and across the street there is another between Haro and Rosemary Brown Lane. Then, there is another one west of Denman at Chilco and Comox.

Morton Park, at the foot of Davie is home to the laughing men statue. Based on the shiny silver spots on the statues where people have rubbed the patina off with their touching, you know these are popular pieces.

There’s a beautiful grassy spot complete with a band shell, called the Haywood Bandstand, on Alexandra on Bidwell. There’s lots of room for picnic blankets where you can enjoy the summer concerts.

Barclay Heritage Square is a piece of green between Barclay Manor and the Roedde House Museum. It is home to the annual Strawberry Festival each June.

A shady corner at Bute and Haro. *(James Oakes Photo)*

There is a quiet retreat on Cardero at Comox with benches and chairs; a nice spot for parents to wait for their children to get out of school.

Cardero at Burnaby is a place to rest and maybe catch a glimpse of the ocean, and at Jervis and Burnaby there is another quiet spot to rest before continuing up the hill to Davie. At Nicola and Pendrell there’s another block closed off for pedestrians, which is a nice place to take a breath before hitting busy Davie.

There is a block turned into a mini park on Broughton at Nelson in front of Gordon Neighbourhood House (GNH). It often hosts special events sponsored by GNH.

On Bute and Haro, in front of the Beaconsfield building, there’s a lovely shady spot and — for a short while this summer — a working fountain to enjoy.

Finally, we can’t forget Nelson Park with the community gardens, a playground, a water feature and the dog park. Maybe this is more than a mini park, but a spot of green nonetheless.

Nelson park has many places to rest awhile.

I had lots of questions about all these small parks. Who looks after them? Who decides what to plant and when to plant? John Odong is the Park Board supervisor for neighbourhood parks and was able to answer my questions about their care:

TWEJ: Who is in charge of what gets planted?

Odong: The Trades Gardener, a role within the board, decides on the plantings for these parks in collaboration with the Superintendent. The plant choices are influenced by climate, water requirements, soil conditions, light profile, and frequency of public use. They also keep records of what has worked well or not worked in previous years.

TWEJ: Who actually goes out and takes care of them?

Odong: The parks are visited and maintained as needed throughout the year by Park Board staff. This can be as often as once or twice a week, summer and winter. Spring, summer and fall crews will be planting, weeding, amending the soil and maintaining the park. In the winter, they might visit daily if there is risk of frost or ice. Winter crews deal with leaf litter, mulching, winter pruning, litter pickup, site inspection and snow and ice treatment and removal. Frequency of visits also depends on calls for service from all over the city.

The Park Board’s nurseries provide seasonal plants for our min-parks and parklet gardens.

TWEJ: Are plants put in and removed regularly when they stop flowering?

Odong: Planting usually happens twice a year. Spring bulbs are planted in late fall and then in mid to late spring plants are added as needed to create a pleasing floral display.

TWEJ: Where does the Park Board get all the plants they use?

Odong: There are in-house nurseries with produce most of the annual plants that they use. The superintendent of the nursery sends out lists of plants to choose from and seeds are purchased and grown based on the orders from the gardeners. The in-house nurseries also have some perennials but these are often purchased as needed from local nurseries.

“Compost is added to the beds regularly. The compost created by the city through the Green Bin program is not used for this. The city website explains that compost collected is sent to a private company called Green for Life. They compost the material and sell it to gardeners or use it to grow turf. The Park Board has to source compost and mulch commercially.

There are permanent staff who do this work all year but extra seasonal workers are hired over the summer. Although experience or knowledge of horticulture is preferred, it isn’t necessary. Any seasonal workers are supervised by a gardener who has Red Seal Certification in the field. I would think this would be a terrific summer job for anyone who loves working outside with plants, although it would be a very physical job. Strong backs are an asset,” Odong added.

I love to walk but have come to the point in life where walks need to be broken up into chunks, with sit down breaks to rest my back. These parks are strategically placed to make that not only possible, but enjoyable. I appreciate the thinking and the work that create these shady spots of respite.