Saturday I was a bit of a bad girl. (If you’re picturing red bustiers, black fishnets and stilettos it’s not that bad, but hey, let’s humour me here!) I was all set to head out for a day of back-breaking, weed yanking, show no mercy pruning, and all round “let’s clean up this mess before it gets away on us again this year”gardening, but a friend called and wanted to go play. What the heck….it was one of those perfect Vancouver spring days that seem to be few and far between. The sun was bright, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, no cold breeze, and it was Easter weekend. Can you say “excuse”? Sure you can! So we decided to go visit an old haunt that we’ve neglected for far too long. One of this city’s hidden gems. VanDusen Gardens. Hooray! I knew I wanted to do a new blog post, and trust me, I knew there would be no shortage of garden porn on this trip. So camera in hand, we headed out for a great afternoon.
VanDusen Gardens is located in the middle of the city of Vancouver, but once you enter the garden, you feel like you’re a million miles away. The land was originally owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. They rented it out to Shaughnessy Golf Course from 1911 until 1960, when Shaughnessy moved to a new location. The gardens opened to the public in August of 1975, and now this 55 acre space is home to over 255,000 plants from around the world. It doesn’t matter what time of the year you visit the garden, there is always something amazing happening. They also have a charming restaurant called “Shaughnessy”, and a perfect little gift store, full of books and garden inspired goodies. The gift store opens onto a little patio area, where they have a small but inviting display of plants and other garden decor waiting for you to take home. (After paying, of course!) So the first stop of the day was to check out the offerings outside.
Once we headed out into the garden, there was no end to the surprises that awaited us. There were lots of areas where nothing much appeared to be happening, but there’ll be sights for us to see there on future visits. We did notice the hostas (cheesecake for slugs) ready to unfurl; big, high magnolia trees looking startling against the blue sky; beautiful ground coverings, such as the white trillium and fresh green clover patches accenting tall bamboo spikes. Some of the old, twisted vines (maybe wisteria?) looked interesting, and various types of Fritillaria were certainly glorious and just coming into bloom.
Seeing this beautiful garden certainly provided me with a refresher course in the delight that texture can bring to a garden scene. Even without colourful flowers, texture can create interest on its’ own. And of course we had to check out the maze. When our families were younger, my friend and I would come here with our husbands and kids for picnics. We would set out the quilts near the stream, where the young ‘uns were endlessly entertained by the running water, and by the mysteriousness of the maze. Needless to say, the kids loved the turtles as well, although I doubt the feeling was mutual. One was even out sunning itself, posing for my camera, so slow that even I could get a picture of it!
Winding down our tour of the garden, we were once again impressed with the height of the magnolias. Camellias then made an appearance, the perfection of their flowers nearing an end. Other trees in bloom sent out tiny snow showers with every hint of a breeze. Winding up back at the restaurant, I had to snap a close up of the sweet angel in the fountain. A little refreshment awaited us inside. What a perfect way to spend a sunny day on an Easter weekend. We’ll definitely not wait so long for a repeat visit!
See you again soon, my little cherub!
15 comments
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April 26, 2011 at 9:04 am
Irene
Love the photos and the humour, Lynne! I will have to go for another visit there myself…soon!
April 26, 2011 at 9:17 am
gardenmad
I’m sure you’d get some amazing photos for your work. I’ll have to figure out how to add your twistedgypsy website as a link on my blog!
May 1, 2011 at 8:43 am
Diane
What a lovely place! Great photos, I enjoyed the ‘tour’.
May 1, 2011 at 11:09 am
gardenmad
I know it’s an awesome place….I can hardly wait to go back again. Soon it will be time for the laburnum walk, underplanted with alliums!
May 8, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Nancy
Lynne, your photos were fabulous! Such a great day; sunny and warm- not too many of those! Love the camelia photos.
May 8, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Lynne Woods
We’ll have to go back in time for the laburnum walk!
May 10, 2011 at 9:29 am
notesfromrumbleycottage
Garden Porn, thank you for that phrase which I am stealing right now.
May 10, 2011 at 9:38 am
gardenmad
You’re welcome!
May 12, 2011 at 9:15 pm
Carolyn
Lovely tour, but those shamrocks stole my heart.
June 1, 2011 at 4:13 pm
gardenmad
Hi Carolyn! Thanks for visiting. I’ve been away for a few weeks on a garden tour in France, so I just read your comment today. There’s something about the bright green of those shamrocks that makes me feel happy too. So fresh! Dying to do another blog post, but I think it’ll be a few days before I get my act together. In the meantime, I’ll check out your blog!
May 14, 2011 at 6:19 am
Janet
What a lovely garden tour. I also go to the plants for sale area before anything else. After all the plants you’ve been looking for for ages might get sold while you admiring the garden. The camellias and magnolias make it a special time of year. One of our local gardens has a very cute cherub which I photographed for my blog. Shame it only has one wing…
June 1, 2011 at 4:15 pm
gardenmad
Ah, a kindred spirit! You’re right….the perfect plant might not wait for you! (Then again, maybe they’ll put some new stock out while you’re touring the garden!) i’m going to check out the cherub on your blog. I’ve discovered I love taking photos of statues!
June 18, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Spectra
Hey there! You have to do more posts! I like what you are offering! Come on! You can do it! Gardens are bursting at the seams all over right about now… though I am guilty of ignoring my own ‘Fence and Garden’ blog to actually, ya know, garden.
June 19, 2011 at 6:10 pm
gardenmad
Hi Spectra! You are too nice….your encouraging words mean a lot to me. I’m feeling very guilty because it’s been so long since I’ve blogged, but my camera isn’t working, and I need some new pics of my garden. Also was holidaying for a couple of weeks touring french gardens (oooh la la!) and now I’m psyched about blogging about them, but once I’m done those, then it seems like it will be a long way down to earth again to blog about my garden. But I guess I can embellish and lie about things, and really, no one will ever know. Ha ha. Blah, blah, blah! Checked out your spectrumwoman blog and really, I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time. (By myself, out loud, anyway.) I must track down your Fence and Garden blog. Thanks again.
June 20, 2011 at 10:07 am
Spectra
Thanks for visiting my humble (eh-hem) blog. Okay, here’s the Fence and Garden link, though be warned, the last I posted there, early May, I was wearing a really bad pair of green shorts, a hoody and a hat…my boney plaster-white knees are enough to cause a vomitous spasm in any sound mind, and worse yet, I had the foolish gaul to video tape -yes, actually video tape – myself using a rented cultivator! Ugh… was I drunk? what kind of a decision was that?
My Garden is looking great, and I just opened my can of paint to ‘white wash’ (in the words of Mark Twain/Tom Sawyer’s Mom) my fence after some repairs.
And, just for amusement, I also have an angry, drunk, mildly insane neighbor who breaks my fence and throws things in my yard…
ENJOY! http://fenceandgarden.wordpress.com/