FINDING INFORMATION & INSPIRATION
A Visit To VanDusen Garden

by Beth Lopez
(click images to enlarge)

I love to walk through the West End admiring the gardens. I see plants and blooms that inspire me for my garden. The problem is that I don’t recognize many of them. If the gardener is there, I can ask questions, but that doesn’t happen often. And sometimes, the gardener doesn’t know either.

I have tried several plant identification apps, but have found them sadly lacking. I’ve tried them on plants I know and the app misidentifies them, so I question all the answers.

VanDusen Gardens - an oasis of natural beauty any time of year.

But VanDusen Gardens is full of amazing plants, each labelled clearly with both the common name and the Latin name. There are even helpful gardeners always on hand who can answer questions about the care and feeding of any plant there. A trip there can inspire and educate you.

VanDusen is easy to get to on the #17 Oak bus and is the perfect place for gardeners, novice or veteran, to draw inspiration. My friend and I spent a gorgeous fall afternoon exploring.

As you arrive, before entering, there is a shelf along the walkway with cuttings of plants that are currently at their best. Beside each example is a clear label with the name. We were immediately drawn to one called the beautyberry. Aptly named, there were clusters of bright purple berries that seemed to glow with a pearlescent shine. Inside we found several pamphlets, including one that featured some of the plants we saw outside. The location of the plant was given and, armed with a map; we went searching for the beautyberry. We found the large bush, covered in the gorgeous berries. Unfortunately, it was too big to consider for my small patio garden. If you have room, I recommend the beautyberry bush for its autumnal display.

That’s the advantage of seeing the plants growing in situ. You can see how much space they need, whether they are in full sun or filtered shade. The gardeners at VanDusen also make a point of putting plants together that like similar growing conditions and that look wonderful together.

**The Beautyberry** *(Beth Lopez Photo)*

Just happening upon such combinations can give you ideas for your garden next year.

Wandering through the garden at different times of the year will give you lots of ideas for timing the blooms in your garden. We saw at VanDusen that October is not all falling leaves and dying flower heads. The place was ablaze with colour – pumpkins and the Japanese maple, chrysanthemums, beautyberry and the last of the dahlias.

Whatever time of year you visit, you will find plants that could work in your garden.

There is usually a master gardener on hand during the day, near the entrance and visible, ready to answer questions. While asking her about the garden, she mentioned that most plants will have labels to identify them. She noted that since the advent of cell phone cameras, fewer labels are removed – visitors just take pictures of the labels and with that information, everything else is available to you.

Latin names may feel too much for some of us, but they are the one way to accurately identify a plant anywhere in the world. Most plants have common names that are used where you live, but they might be called something entirely different in the next province and will have different names in other languages. The Latin name will always point to the right plant.

Suppose I find a plant that I like but I want to know more about it. VanDusen has a handy library with reference books you can peruse. Look up that Latin name and find out where the plant originated and what its requirements are for temperature, sunlight, water, and food. When does it bloom and how long do the flowers last? What diseases or pests should I watch out for and how do I deal with them if they hit?

According to their website, this is what the VanDusen library has to offer:

“The library’s collection focuses on gardening in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, and covers a wide range of topics including gardening techniques, selecting and growing ornamental plants, native floras from around the world, vegetable and herb gardening, pruning and training, North American ethnobotany, butterfly gardening, native plant gardening, flower arrangement, plant hunters, garden history, pests and diseases, garden design, gardens to visit, horticulture in urban environments, botany and plant ecology, plant conservation, literature in the garden, garden art, organic gardening, environmental science and much more.”

We left that afternoon with information and inspiration. But, I admit, the most striking part of our visit happened as we sat at the bus stop in the late autumn afternoon sun. Across the street I saw the ultimate autumn beauty. Back-lit by the bright sun, slipping down to the horizon, against the deep bright blue of the cloudless sky, there were the tops of two trees rising above the roofs. A straight tall deep dark green evergreen, glossy needles glinting in the sun, stood beside a tall maple. The orange-red of the deciduous tree blazed in the sunlight. The contrast between the dark green, the fiery red-orange and the bright blue was breathtaking.

We are given this beauty all around us to feed our spirits and I am so grateful. There is beauty in the textures and silhouettes of every season.

After your visit to VanDusen you can check out their website here, where you can find a photo gallery of their plants divided by season. Also on the website are VanDusen’s operating hours for the gardens and the library.