The Garden's Collections
March 11, 2008
Spring has sprung
I took a few quick snapshots at the front entrance to the garden today. The flowering of the first magnolia, Magnolia sargentiana var. robusta, always seems to signal the start of spring for me. A few rhododendrons are already past their prime in the garden, but the Rhododendron mucronulatum (white-flowered selection) at the front entrance is greeting all visitors this week with its full glory (along with some nearby purple-flowered Rhododendron dauricum).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 4:16 PM
May 30, 2007
Wollemi Pine
“How marvelous and exciting that we should have discovered this rare survivor from such an ancient past.” – Sir David Attenborough
There are fewer than 100 Wollemi pines in a secret location in Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, Australia. A little more than 10 years ago, these plants were believed to be extinct, until an unfamiliar group of trees was accidentally discovered and compared to a fossil specimen of the Wollemi. The king of the Wollemis, the Bill Tree stands nearly 40 metres tall, towering above the canopy. The grandest Wollemi on the planet, the Bill Tree started life around 1000 years ago, about the time the Vikings made first contact with Native Americans, the Romani people left India and the Chinese invented gunpowder.
Our thanks to Dr. Susan Murch, Assistant Professor and Canadian Research Chair in Natural Products Chemistry, UBC Okanagan, who made possible the donation of Wollemi pines to the UBC Botanical Garden, including a first generation propagation of the magnificent Bill Tree. One of the small Wollemi specimens donated to the Garden was planted at a ceremony on May 24, 2007. This ceremony was attended by Kevin Lamb (Consul & Manager, Austrade, Australian Consulate), Dr. Susan Murch, the Dean of The Faculty of Land and Food Systems, the general public, the Friends of the Garden and garden staff.
This Wollemi Pine will be a great addition to the UBC Botanical Garden collections, and its mandate to assemble, curate and maintain a documented collection of living, temperate plants for the purposes of research, teaching, public display and conservation.
Thank-you to Gideon Singer for submitting these pictures of the ceremony.
Posted by Nadine Diner at 9:12 AM
April 9, 2007
Peter and a Mountain Ash
Photos of Peter Wharton once again, this time demonstrating a bit of adventurous gardening.
Peter is definitely not afraid to make the extra effort if the situation calls for it. Last week there was quite a lot of new planting going on in the David C. Lam Asian Garden including a number of mountain ash (Sorbus sp.). This particular species is epiphytic, which means that instead of growing in the soil, it prefers to perch on top of other plants. So Peter clamoured up the side of this old stump and planted the young tree directly into the soft, rotting wood. Pretty cool. When you walk through the garden look up once in a while and you'll probably be surprised to see how many times he has done this over the years.
While I was photographing this I was able to make a couple of short videos with Peter explaining what he was doing. These turned out fairly well and as we update our software I hope to be able to share clips with you on this blog. Stay tuned.
Posted by Andy Hill at 11:07 AM
April 1, 2007
Peter and a Magnolia
Peter Wharton at the garden entrance next to Magnolia sprengeri 'Eric Savill'.
There are nearly a hundred magnolias blooming in the garden today, creating great washes of colour with other flowering trees and shrubs such as rhododendrons, camellias and linderas. Peter Wharton curates the David C. Lam Asian Garden and has this to say: "the first major flush of spring flowers is upon us, for visitors right now it is a visual feast."
Peter is very well known for the work that he has done at the garden and for his plant explorations. He makes regular trips to Asia to make scientific collections of important plants for study and conservation. This time next year he will be in China examining these magnificent magnolias in their native environment.
Posted by Andy Hill at 8:41 PM
Cherry Blossoms at Nitobe Memorial Garden
This is absolutely the best time to see the cherry trees blooming in the garden. Don't miss it. Seriously, don't miss it!
Here are some pictures of visitors enjoying the trees, and of Horticulturist Junji Shinada who takes care of Nitobe Memorial Garden. Junji takes care of the entire garden on his own -- can you believe that?
On Saturday April 7th between 3:00 and 7:00 pm the Vancouver Mokuyokai Society will be holding their 24th Annual Ohanami Cherry-Blossom Viewing in the garden. This will include candlelight viewings, tea ceremonies, musical performances and traditional obento dinner boxes. Go to their website here or send an email for information or to make tea ceremony and obento reservations.
Posted by Andy Hill at 7:52 PM
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UBC Botanical Garden Blog is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department within the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at The University of British Columbia.