VanDusen Botanical Garden
Vancouver's Living Museum

A picture's worth a thousand words. Well then, these pictures of VanDusen Botanical Garden are worth a million.

There are galleries for the spring, summer and autumn garden. Almost like going on a walking tour! We'll cover a lot of ground - it's an enormous area.

The 55 acre site started out as Canadian Pacific Railway bushland. The site began its transformation in 1966 and made its debut as a botanical garden in 1975.

VanDusen Botanical Garden has a whole bunch of reasons to make this your favorite garden, too! Boredom doesn't live here!

The place is buzzing all times of the year with...

• Courses of all sorts and a Master Gardener Program.

• Flower shows and competitions - enjoy and photograph or compete.

• Craft shows spring and fall - do your Christmas and birthday shopping, or sell some garden photography.

• The yearly Festival of Lights is spectacular at VanDusen Botanical Gardens. Whatever you do, don't miss it!

• A glorious garden shop where my wish list is as long as my arm.

• Plant and seed sales - great for yourself or gifts for your gardener buddies.

• It's wheel chair accessible - get a special map from the cashier at the door to the garden.

• If you need information about your garden call their Plant Information Line. There's a Master Gardener waiting for your call.

• Let a volunteer take you on a tour of the garden so you can plan your photography day.

• The library's a super place if you've got an interest in horticulture. Need information on the plants in your garden pictures? Are you keen on designing your garden space? Everything you need is in the library.

• So many sub-gardens to experience - like traveling to gardens far and wide, without the expense!

More than 400 volunteers feel the same passion for this garden as I do. Each of us think of it, lovingly, as our own. I hope you will, too!

	VanDusen Botanical Garden is great to walk by without even stopping in for a visit! The rhododendrons spill over to the sidewalk on 37th Avenue. I woke up every morning anticipating this heavenly “fix” on my way to work!
	More shades of pink and violet with rhododendrons and Spanish bluebells on the Rhododendron Walk. Indulge in a day off at VanDusen's and treat yourself to a stroll among the spring flowers! (Do you talk to the flowers? I do, too!)
	If you think that pink is the only color you'll see along the Rhododendron Walk - you're wrong! There's a kaleidoscope of brilliant color so capture all of it on camera! The soft colors of winter are gone. Now there's a color explosion!
	Pulsatilla vulgaris belongs to the Buttercup family. It blooms early spring. Flowers are purple, blue violet or white. The silver threads are so bright in the sun. I exposed for these so the background looks black because of the huge contrast in light.

In late spring, you can't possibly miss the Laburnum Walk - a thick lemon yellow archway dripping with blooms!

Its adjacent to the formal rose garden. And the stone fence and walkway extends all around the rose garden as well.

In a mellow yellow mood? Welcome to the Laburnum Walk - beside the formal rose garden. It's late spring and the laburnums are in full glory.

Under the thick leafy canopy - a purple splash of alliums, orange poppies and a thick growth of shade-loving ferns. They do very well in this space.

Here's a look at some giant allium blooms nesting under the laburnum trees. The orange poppies, blue-violet Spanish bluebells and the allium's deep plum are so pretty under the drooping yellow laburnum.

Deja vu - Rosemary Verey's Barnsley House in Gloucestershire with gorgeous laburnum!

This British lady influenced many cottage-style garden designs in Europe and N. America. And being very British, high tea and all, you'll find that the “cottage” garden is quite popular in Vancouver and Victoria.

Walk through the archway of yellow blooms and turn around. There's a gorgeous view from any direction. On an overcast day, the deep yellow sunnies up your disposition. And on a sunny day, the color just vibrates with energy.

The Laburnum Walk is alongside the rose garden. By early summer the roses are where romantics and photographers visit! Don't rush through... relax and smell the roses!

	Drop by the formal rose garden in early summer. This trellis is heavy with blooms. Photograph it and enjoy the sheer beauty of the scene. VanDusen Botanical Garden has incredible roses well worth photographing. And notice the sundial behind you.
	Summer flowers include the evergreen azaleas. Azaleas belong to the rhododendrons. Rhodies tend to be evergreen, azaleas deciduous, but there are exceptions! Walk toward the Sino-Himalayan garden beside the Korean Pavillion.
	This is “my” park bench where I people-watch all the time. It's a great place to relax, watch the birds and see the seasons changing on the great lawn. Hostas grow all around. There's another bench close by, just for you!
	From my park bench... this late August afternoon is perfect for lazing around the garden. The garden colors are beginning to reflect the coming fall - orange, yellow, gold and purple. The hostas are looking a little tired now. I'm feeling lazy, too!

The espalier-trained apples were alongside the Children's Garden. But when I was there this spring, the espalier had been removed. The garden is in transition!

The perennial garden will keep your camera busy for hours. I really love this summer garden photo because of the amazing backlight. The poppies appear almost translucent with the sun striking them.

The light brings out the tiniest details. In sidelight as well, texture and detail are accentuated.

The first photo of iris ensatas is at Livingtone Lake just to the left of the “Fisher Hauling in the Net” sculpture. They live lake-side so they can keep their feet wet in the summer... and soak up the bright sunshine.

Next, some gorgeous, huge iris ensatas live in Meadow Ponds - far east side of the garden near the bee hives. They like wet feet, also, except in winter. Huge violet purple blooms 6 to 8 inches across. They were begging to me to take their picture.

The bronze herons used to decorate the fountain inside the entrance. It was replaced by the Phyllis Bentall Garden with an inground pool. Now they “nest” in the foliage beside the pool. Explore - follow the terraced steps!

By the way, there's a huge reconstruction taking place right now. Soon there will be a magnificent new building to replace the old VanDusen Botanical Garden entrance and much more! I can't wait!

VanDusen Botanical Garden is colorful any time of year. The head gardeners chose the trees and shrubs with so much care. It's unfortunate that several hundred trees were lost in the December 2006 windstorm.

Photographing decorative grasses... Long grass is difficult to photograph. Have a fast lens or make sure that there's no wind blowing so you can capture all the fine detail. The backlight makes these grasses look almost translucent. I love backlight!

This grass has a sidelight on it. Look at the wonderful textures and colors in the different plants. VanDusen's horticultural experts have such flare for contrasting colors and shapes. Want some photo tips on light?

The Autumn Frost

Once the chilly nights come around, I love the frost on the ground in the early morning... so neat to feel and hear my feet crunch on the lawn!

I especially love to photograph the frost on the leaves or the delicate sheets of ice on the pond. And VanDusen Botanical Gardens is a treasure trove in the fall...

crispy leaves and colorful foliage.

The air's nippy -- wonderful sweater nights!

Great! The heat and humidity of summer are gone. The fall light is amazing and I can happily get lost in a place like VanDusen Botanical Garden!

A very cold and rainy late fall day. And a definite blue tone to the light of the short wet day. My fingers were getting numb as I shot many pictures of the decaying leaves. They had fallen on the large stone table in the Children's Garden.

I walked beside Livingstone Lake on the same cold and rainy day. The colors were muted and the cloud cover and rain created an almost eerie glow. I was all alone in the huge garden, or it seemed so. VanDusen Botanical Garden was all mine on that day!

The Winter Garden is a wondrous place in this botanical garden. See a snippet of it right here at the December 2010 VanDusen Festival of Lights and when next December rolls around - make sure you get there once or twice!

Taking pictures of gardens is one way of becoming aware of the natural world we're so blessed with. is I'm drawn back to nature again and again at VanDusen Botanical Garden. Its a place to forget everything outside the walls.

If you let it, your camera will become your link to nature. And maybe you'll see me here on your next visit to VanDusen Botanical Garden.

Wondering how you get there? This Google map will help you out...

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