Route: UBC Botanical Garden, Vancouver
Area: British Columbia, Canada
Date of walk: 26th August 2025
Walkers: Andrew, Gilly and James
Distance: 2.0 miles
Ascent: nil
Weather: Sunny and very warm
On our final day in Canada we had some time to spare before our flight home from Vancouver and decided to visit another of the city’s numerous parks and gardens, UBC Botanical Garden, Canada’s oldest university botanic garden, established in 1916. The original aim was to research the native flora of British Columbia but since then its ambitions have widened to include education, research, conservation, community outreach, and public display of temperate plants from around the world. The garden is close to many of Vancouver’s premier attractions and a visit can easily be combined with one or more of these, for example Granville Island and VanDusen Botanical Garden which we visited at the start of our holiday in British Columbia
Having bought our entrance tickets we made a beeline along Upper Asian Way to seek out the Greenheart Treewalk, one of the garden’s major attractions. This walk offers a bird’s eye view of the temperate rainforest. A series of narrow suspension bridges are linked together from tree to tree, stretching for 300 yards and hanging from huge Douglas firs, cedars and grand firs. It was impossible to take photos from the bridge sections as they were very wobbly, but along the way there are platforms where the views can be enjoyed, 60 feet above the forest floor
This was the highlight of the visit for us but there was much more of interest, as I hope the photos will show. It had been a great end to a wonderful two weeks in Western Canada, during the course of which we’d walked in all sorts of scenery – gardens and parks, high mountains, deserted beaches, ancient rainforests, a busy city, lakeside paths, rocky coastlines, canyons and more besides
Click on the link below for the location of UBC Botanical Garden, and click here for a garden map
Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow
The day before our visit to UBC Botanical Garden we went for our final walk with son James before flying back to England later next day
James took us to a place which is popular with the locals, Jericho Beach, which has good views across Burrard Inlet to Downtown Vancouver
It was a lovely there and back stroll
Next day, having said our goodbyes to James, we have some time before our flight and visit UBS Botanical Garden. We walk through the 10.5 hectare David C. Lam Asian Garden featuring plants from China, Korea, Japan and the Himalayas
The garden is known for its collection of lianas (woody climbers), which normally grow in tropical forests
Western red cedar, which had numerous uses for the First Nations peoples
We climb up to start the Greenheart TreeWalk, a series of suspension bridges linked by trees, stretching for 300 yards and 60 feet above the ground
The walk gives unprecedented views through the forest canopy...
Back on ground level, we continue through the old woodland...
We turn right beyond a small bridge and head for the other section of the garden
UBC Botanical Garden is divided into two halves, separated by SW Marine Drive. A tunnel beyond Moon Gate takes us under the road to the other side
The Harold and Frances Holt Physic Garden, with traditional medicinal plants from Europe
A few photos of the late flowering borders...
The Alpine Garden
'Columbia' by Deborah Butterfield
A final look over UBC Botanical Garden. It's time to head for the exit to catch our flight home at the end of a wonderful fortnight
Follow the link for more walks in Western Canada (33)
