We walked down the wooden boardwalk, through the gate, down a short asphalt path and then suddenly we had entered another world filled with exotic trees, giant climbing vines and towering firs and cedars.
As I listened to my guide talk about some of the many interesting plants, I was awestruck by how big the trees were and how much biodiversity there was to see.
This was only the start of my exclusive tour of the David C. Lam Asian Garden at the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden (www.botanicalgarden.ubc. ca) with Douglas Justice. For those who don't know Justice, he is the associate director and curator of collections at the UBC Botanical Garden.
Justice is also a botanist, research scientist, educator, former nurseryman and one of the most knowledgeable plant gurus in Canada. He teaches in the applied biology and master's of landscape architecture programs at UBC and holds a bachelor's degree in horticulture and a master's in botany. He is an active member of many organizations including the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, International Plant Propagators Society, Maple Society and the Native Plant Society of British Columbia to name a few.
A garden tour with Justice is more of a bush expedition and reminiscent of walking through the forest with a talking encyclopedia. I thought I knew a lot about plants but Justice tells me, "Use all of your senses to identify and understand plants. Look, smell and touch plants to really understand what they have to offer the world." He tells me this just as he draws my attention to a rhododendron with heavily indumented foliage that feels like bunny fur.
He asks me what I would like to see. Easy for him to ask, since I think he probably knows where every single plant in the Asian garden is located, and I'm still not even sure if I'm in Vancouver! I ask him to
show me what he thinks will be interesting. So we walk immediately off the beaten path (read: bush expedition) into the middle of the forest and all I can see are giant rhodos with leaves bigger than a cowboy hat, 150-yearold grand fir and climbing vines growing way up into the trees. It really is another world in here and I can't see or hear anyone but Justice. Then suddenly he stops and says, "Do you smell that? It's Katsura leaves on the ground." I stop and realize that I have grown Katsura for years but never took the time to smell their leaves.
We progress down a winding path through the middle of the forest and suddenly we enter a clearing with a huge, old Douglas fir that arches its way up into the sky. This tree is really massive, bigger than four or five metres in diameter at the base, probably 60 metres tall, with deep furrowed bark and it's an awesome site standing there like a majestic sentinel in the forest. Before I can even get my camera out to photograph this giant, Justice heads off into the forest, waving me on behind him. We approach a grove of rhododendrons tucked under some giant cedar trees and Justice says, "These are Rhododendron kasangiae and last winter was the first time in a decade that these plants have suffered frost damage."
I am amazed by the giant leaves on plants that tower above me at twice my height. It seems last winter was hard on many plants in the garden, including larch, several shrubs and some trees.
I ask him: What do you do when a significant plant is lost from the collection? He tells me, "We always have backups either elsewhere in the garden, in the nursery or at other collaborating botanical gardens. When we obtain new plants we grow multiples and spread them around our network."
The UBC garden collaborates with other botanical gardens across North America in plant conservation, collection, research and education. Justice tells me, "If you want to keep a plant, give it away. That way, many sources have members of any given collection, which prevents that species from being lost if one sources loses a plant for whatever reason."
We walk through the garden looking at so many exotic trees, perennials and vines scrambling up into the trees that I stop trying to photograph or to take notes. There is simply too much information coming out of my encyclopedic tour guide. And before I know it, two hours have gone by and we are back at the gate.
I ask Justice why he has such affection for trees? He says, "Growing trees is more than just growing trees, it's about the biodiversity associated with the trees that's interesting and important." A lesson that we can all learn.
Todd Major is a journeyman horticulturist, garden designer, writer, consultant and organic advocate. For advice contact him at stmajor@ shaw.ca.
