Melodie's Garden Blog: VanDusen Gardens in Vancouver

This should be my final posting of photos from this trip to VanDusen Gardens.. unless of course I find more photos to post.. I took sooo many. :) After the trip to Vancouver we boarded a Ship for a 7 day cruise through Alaska. So, my next posts will include posts of scenery and gardens from Alaska.

And, I have an upcoming blog that will be photos of creative green spaces that I saw in Canada and Alaska. I'm also leaving tomorrow for New York City for a few days and hope to capture some more green spaces there to add to that blog. So keep checking back for new photos.

Below you will see a sampling of cut blossoms in bottles at the entrance of Van Dusen. These showed and described some of what was currently blooming in the garden. It was an effective display and a wonderful teaser of what we were about to see!

Jody couldn't wait to go in! Okay, so I'm being just slightly sarcastic. haha. Gardens are my thing, obviously, and Jody always goes along because I like it so much. But, he thoroughly enjoyed VanDusen - he couldn't say enough about it. He was so impressed and enjoyed it so much. When we look back on the entire trip he ranks it as one of the best parts. So that endorsement should tell you NOT to miss VanDusen if you are in Vancouver. :)

This is the first thing we saw when we got off the bus. Jody was talking to me and I stopped him midsentence and said. WHOAAA!!!!! I knew we were in for a treat!! Yay!!

Whoaa! Now that's a big leaf ;)

Nicotiana!!

These were newly planted beds outside the garden by the street. Imatiens and Nicotiana.

Smoketree in bloom.

Echeverias, Heucheras, Sempervivums, and Coleus underplanted beneath a large Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar.

Jody was really impressed with the Cedar.. and it was Quite a Specimen. It was locate just to the right of the stairs as you enetered the garden.

this wooden cart was planted with blooming sedum.

More photos of the Cedar and the formal white garden. The white garden was so pretty. The photos definately don't do it justice.

The garden has a restaraunt (where we ate) and this Garden Cafe. I took this photo because I really liked the wood work and the many angle that made up the portion where the garden cafe sign hangs. It's a little hard to see them in the photo. I also really liked the Japanese Lantern.

More photos of the white garden which included Santolina, Artemisia, Allium, 'Annabelle' Hydrangeas, Salvia argentia, Blue and Variegated Agaves, Plox, Miscanthus, and much more.

This was such a pretty combination. The seed pods from the allium, and the Knautia.

Climbing hydrangea in bloom in the background.

There was a formal rectangular pond just inside the entry to the garden.

Aeonium in a Container Garden.

with Golden Oxalis, Kalanchoe (Mother of Thousands), and 'Vancouver Centennial' Geranium.

They were installing a new grassy border. Around each plant they had finely ground gravel poured. They were doing that on the day we were there.It didn't seem like it was the mulch..or maybe for drainage? I couldn't tell.

I'm not a big fan of Daylilies but these were a beautiful color - and paired with this Raspberry Monarda it made a nice duo.

I was so glad to see the Pea tree and figure out what it was. I had only seen it years ago in a Floral Market as a cutflower - and had assumed at that time that it was a type of Euphorbia. I love it!! The colors are amaing. I wish we could grow it in zone 7B. I dought it would do well here though. But I know I'm going to try it ;)

Here you see the Variegated Agave, The pea tree, blue geranium, and purple verbena.

Green Nicotiana and Blue Geranium with Allium seed pods..

And the formal Rose Garden bordered by boxwoods.

This Catalpa tree was in full bloom and smelled wonderful!! It was so perfectly shaped.. and it was placed in a spot where you could see it from a long distance in several directions which was truly nice since it was in bloom.

Look at all the blossoms on the ground.

Miniature plantings in Hypertufa containers...

This topiary was at the entrance to the topiary/sculpture garden. If you look in the background there are also echeverias in moss on the Cordyline.

More shots of the Espaliered Apple... With brightly colored coleus and Alternanthera planted below it.

Below is the resaraunt......

This was a freshly pruned boxwood.

More topiaries......

Below is a Caterpillar of boxwoods...

Fuschia topiary standards are shown on the right and background of this photo. They are a little hard to see. I had never seen standard Fuschias before.

I saw tons of different varieties of Fuschias in Vancouver and Alaska.