Toast of the Sunshine Coast

Credit: Paddy Wales

Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Society members are over the moon about their new botanical garden, formerly Murray’s Tree Farm on Mason Road in Sechelt. Transformation of the site has begun – in exchange for fence mending and ploughing, a neighbour has loaned a dozen cattle to graze and add manure to the veggie garden site. Meanwhile, volunteers with sturdy gloves clear blackberries, broom and brush.

PHOTOS

See more photos of this important garden treasure on the Sunshine Coast by Paddy Wales.

Replete with specimen trees, ponds and wildlife, the 16-ha (40-acre) site contains, among other things, an outstanding grove of rare quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides var. vancouveriana). Douglas Justice of the UBC Botanical Garden is excited about these trees. “Their bark is a wonderful shade of chalky greenish-white, set off beautifully by contrasting charcoal smudges of the branch scars.” A strip mall replaced the last stand of quaking aspens like this, according to Justice. He enthuses, too, about the site’s bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). “Rarely do we see magnificent mature specimens like these, growing in the cool ravine at the western edge – big, healthy individuals, dripping with mosses and other epiphytes.” 

The garden promises a wide range of uses from celebrations to community events, education and inspiration.