UBC Botanical Garden

Support a space for rest, reflection and reconnection with nature at UBC Botanical Garden. https://lnkd.in/gMPDqBj4 UBC Botanical Garden is a living museum that brings together students, researchers and the community to explore and celebrate plants. As a hub for education and conservation, it fosters curiosity, learning, and a deep appreciation for biodiversity and sustainability. Through the 2025 Giving Day Picnic Tables Initiative, your gift will help create a welcoming space where visitors can pause, reflect and experience the restorative benefits of nature. Picture a quiet place to sit, take in the garden’s beauty and enjoy the sounds of nature—a space to pause, connect and appreciate the world around you. Donate today and help UBC Botanical Garden continue to grow, thrive and inspire.

New name, same great stories! #WildPlantWednesdays is now #NaturallyNotable. This series highlights some of the unique plants in our collection, and the stories of how they came to the garden from habitats all around the world. Early spring sees the exuberant flowering of many of our Magnolias, a group of trees widely grown and admired here in the garden. One of our most treasured is Magnolia zenii, commonly known as the Zen magnolia, which is a smaller flowering species that is particularly early to bloom. What makes this tree so special to us? It’s a rarity! This Magnolia is exceedingly rare, assessed by IUCN as critically endangered and occurs only as a single population of approximately 18 trees growing on Mt. Baohua in Jiangsu Province, China. As part of The American Public Gardens Associations Nationally Accredited Multisite Collection of Magnolia, we work collaboratively with our partner gardens to ensure these rare Magnolias are safeguarded as living collections throughout botanical gardens. The plant pictured here was shared with us by The United States National Arboretum in 1986 as scion wood, which we used to graft a new plant genetically identical to the one growing in their collections. In this way, we can ensure duplication plants as protection against damage or loss of important wild-origin material held in gardens. The plant growing at the United States National Arboretum, and through grafting now also lives here, originated from the remaining population on Mt. Baohua in China. You can see Magnolia zenii in the David C. Lam Asian Garden here at UBC Botanical Garden. Photo by Ben Stormes #ubcgarden #ubcbotanicalgarden #wildplants #research

Call for volunteers! We are looking for volunteers to help us achieve these goals during busy times in the summer. Nitobe Memorial Garden is a traditional Japanese garden dedicated to bridging people with different cultures, and providing a space for quiet contemplation, beauty, and tranquillity, where people can improve their well-being. “Omotenashi” is a Japanese word for wholehearted hospitality. As an omotenashi ambassador, we expect you to support guests at Nitobe Memorial Garden with the “omotenashi” spirit. Prior knowledge or experience is not necessary, training is provided. Everyone is welcome. We look forward to seeing you all in Nitobe Garden. Register to volunteer with us today: https://lnkd.in/gwfDDSc8

#WildPlantWednesday With spring fast approaching here at the garden, let's look at a plant that has interest to offer us at all times of the year. Chrysolepis chrysophylla, the golden chinquapin, is a broadleaf evergreen mostly found in California, Oregon and south tip of Washington state in a variety of growing conditions ranging from open south-facing rocky ridgetops, to north-facing valley bottoms in cool moist areas. Needless to say, it’s a true warrior that can either co-dominate a canopy, or become an understory dweller, handling a multitude of climates. The specific epithet contains two pieces - “chrysa” meaning gold, and “phylla” meaning leaf, an apt name as the undersides of the leaves are covered in glowing golden scales, as you can see in today’s photo. The golden chinquapin produces separate male and female flowers on the same plant (a trait botanists refer to as monecious). If successfully pollinated, they produce angular nuts contained within a sharp, spiky husk. Fun fact: Chrysolepis chrysophylla is the only known host to the threatened Washington State golden streak butterfly. The plant pictured here was grown from a seed collected in 2017 from a tree growing on a west-facing mointain of Onion Mountain in Josephine Country, Oregon. It was collected during a seed collecting expedition involving staff from UBC Botanical Garden and The Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, and now calls our Pacific Slope Garden home. Photo by Randy Kowaluk #ubcgarden #ubcbotanicalgarden #wildplants #research

#WildPlantWednesday Are you ready for another broadleaf evergreen appreciation post? I sure am, and bring you Quercus chrysolepis, the canyon live oak belonging to the Fagaceae, or oak family. This interesting tree/shrub is found in the American southwestern, but more notably around the California Coast range near creeks and in moist cool areas. The leaves are deep green above, leathery, and have a distinctive mealy gold underside, as pictured here. The leave shape and margin may be variable, with both entire narrow leaves and spiny broader leaves occurring on the same plant. Sneaky sneaky! Fun fact: the epithet, chrysolepis is split in two with “chryso” meaning gold, and “lepis” meaning scale, referring to the golden cap sitting atop the acorns they produce when mature. The plant pictured here was grown from a seed collected in 2017 from a tree growing on an exposed embankment in Josephaine Country, Oregon. It was collected during a seed collecting expedition involving staff from UBC Botanical Garden and The Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, and now calls our Pacific Slope Garden home. Photo by Randy Kowaluk #ubcgarden #ubcbotanicalgarden #wildplants #research

#WildPlantWednesday Today, coming all the way from the mountain forests of Japan, Taiwan, and Korea we have Trochodendron aralioides or more commonly known as the wheel tree. This slow growing broadleaf evergreen is in the plant family Trochodendronaceae , and the genus Trochodendron is monotypic (only one species in the genus). Neat fact: this plant is apetalous, meaning it has no petals on the greenish yellow clusters of flowers that bloom anywhere from April to June. What follows these flower next is a beautiful array of seed capsules that are sure to catch anyone’s eye. Now we know what you’re thinking, where does its botanical name come from? The genus comes from the Greek word Trochos means ‘wheel’, and dendron translates to ‘tree’, and the epithet aralioides translates to ‘resembling an Aralia’ which is a whole other genus of plants. The specimen pictured here was grown from a seed collected in the forests of Taiwan where well-known plant explorer Dan Hinkley located an impressively large tree growing at 2195 meters in elevation. Dan is a long-time collaborator with UBC Botanical Garden, and shared some of the seeds he collected with us. If you’re finding yourself looking for something to do, why don’t you come walk through our David C. Lam Asian garden and find this little gem growing there, you won’t be disappointed! Photo by Randy Kowaluk #ubcgarden #ubcbotanicalgarden #wildplants #research

All smiles here! The Horticulture Training Program is your once-a-year opportunity to get certified and gain hands-on experience at UBC Botanical Garden. Our information session is happening on March 6th, 2025 at 5:30pm via Zoom. Register here: https://lnkd.in/g_E-AtSd

#WildPlantWednesday Commonly known as the Chinese red-barked birch, Betual utilis subsp. albosinenesis is one of the few trees in the garden that might make it’s most prominent show during the winter. With the leafless branches of surrounding trees allowing the low winter light to highlight its marvellous bark, winter is its time to shine! Like many birches, the Chinese red-barked birch has very thin bark that peels and sheds as the tree matures, revealing a variety of red, orange, and rusty shades along its trunk. The horizontal white marks on the trunks called lenticels, and allow gas exchange for the living tissues of the inner bark and cambium layers within the trunk. This species is native to western China, and the plant pictured here was grown from seed collected in Yunnan Province at 3550 meters elevation by staff at The Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh. Some of this seed was shared with us in 1991, and as a result you can now find this plant in the David C. Lam Asian Garden at UBC Botanical Garden. Photo by Ben Stormes #ubcgarden #ubcbotanicalgarden #wildplants #research

#WildPlantWednesday Taxus brevifolia–commonly known as the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia is a small tree or large shrub that is most often found in shady, moist sites in the understory of larger conifers from Alaska south to California. It usually has an irregular open form and long drooping branches, and this in combination with mosses and lichens that can coat the branches give it a somber or even spooky silhouette. As a member of the Taxaceae, or yew family, it is somewhat unique among the conifers in that it doesn’t produce a dry “cone”, but rather a fleshy berry-like structure called an aril that contains just one seed. As this species is dioecious (separate seed and pollen producing plants), and the plant pictured here is pollen producing, you won’t see any red arils on this one! Pacific yew is a slow growing plant, and the one pictured here is 50 years old but stands just 3 meters tall and 4 meters wide. This specimen was grown from a stem cutting collected by former garden staff member Bodil Leamy in 1974. You can find it growing in the shady understory of our BC Rainforest Garden here at UBC Botanical Garden. Photo by Ben Stormes #ubcgarden #ubcbotanicalgarden #wildplants #research

#WildPlantWednesday A sneaky tree wearing camo trying to hide out in the forest, but we see you! Here we spy Parrotia persica, or Persian ironwood, a plant in the Hamamelidaceae or witch hazel family that hails from the Alborz Mountains in Iran and Azerbaijan. As it tree matures, the older branches and trunks exfoliate their outer bark in irregularly shaped pieces, creating a mosaic of pattern and colour as it reveals the younger bark beneath. Parrotia persica has become a very popular street tree and park planting option in recent years due to its moderate size, adaptability to poor soils, drought resilience, and urban heat tolerance. The plant pictured here was shared with us by The Royal Botanical Gardens, KEW as scion wood for grafting. The original source of the material shared can be traced back to collections made in the Elburz Mountains in Iran during the 1970’s. You can find this specimen growing in the David C. Lam Asian Garden here at UBC Botanical Garden. Photo by Ben Stormes #ubcgarden #ubcbotanicalgarden #wildplants #research