M
Maryum Chaudhry
Guest
- Thread Author
- #1
My November blog is typically an opportunity to crow about the Botanical Garden’s berries and autumn colour and what’s continuing to or starting to flower. November can be a dull month, but it’s also a reminder that we garden in an exceptionally moderate climate, especially compared with the rest of the country. This time, however, I thought I’d depart somewhat from that well-worn script. Don’t get me wrong—I would always encourage visitors to seek out and enjoy beautiful and interesting things in the Garden. We have an amazingly diverse plant collection, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to observe day to day, seasonal and longer changes and write about them for nearly three decades.
But there’s a reckoning coming, and that is our ability to keep the Garden vibrant and resilient, and the collections diverse and meaningful, in the face of climate change. Consider that climate scientists predict a trend for this region characterized by warmer, drier, longer summers, and winters with more intense rainfall events and less snow accumulation at elevation. Our gardens have always required supplemental water (irrigation) in late spring and summer because our soils are not particularly moisture retentive. In fact, what passes for soil in the Botanical Garden (and the rest of Point Grey) is a shallow layer of organic matter derived from a few thousand years of leaf and conifer-needle deposition sitting atop compacted layers of sands and gravels deposited by glaciers thousands of years ago. Unlike the agricultural soils in the Fraser Valley, local forest soils like ours typically have no deep reservoir from which moisture can be extracted once the weather becomes hot and dry. An increase in heat and summer evaporation will unfortunately only increase moisture demand. Couple that with a diminishing supply of water from snow melt on the North Shore mountains (where we get our water) and the unrelenting need that will come from Vancouver’s increasing population, and we have not only a potential disaster staring us down, but a serious responsibility to take action.
Botanical Garden staff understand that we have to garden differently in light of these changes. Our horticulturists have been responding to changing environmental conditions for years—it’s what gardeners do. In the Garden, initiatives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of irrigation systems are linked to the introduction of more climate-adapted plants and techniques to reduce moisture loss from the soil. The Pacific Slope Garden is a showcase in this respect: plants from northern California and southern Oregon, already adapted to the climatic extremes we are expecting here, are being grown and tested with little or no summer irrigation. This is not the only place we are making changes, but we also know that these measures alone are not enough. Capturing and storing the bounty of our winter rainfall so that it can be used to irrigate our valuable collections is our next big challenge.
The Botanical Garden’s plant collections provide material for research and opportunities for education at every level. Visitors tell us that our plants are appreciated for their beauty, and equally for their cultural, historical and ecological value. For many, UBC Botanical Garden is a place of respite and reflection, a home for community events and celebrations, for study and for sustaining mental and physical health. But this can only be achieved because our gardens and horticulturists support and maintain the biodiversity that keeps garden ecosystems beautiful and resilient. We are working hard to make UBC Botanical Garden as valuable to future generations as it is today.
Acer oliverianum
Asian Garden fog
Fuchsia ‘Little Giant’
Gaultheria mucronata
Ginkgo biloba
Hedychium spicatum
Juniperus communis
Lonicera ligustrina var. pileata
Mahonia japonica ‘Hiemalis’
Prunus ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’
Vaccinium cylindraceum
Written by:
Douglas Justice
Associate Director, Horticulture and Collections
UBC Botanical Garden
The post November in the Garden 2026 appeared first on UBC Botanical Garden.
But there’s a reckoning coming, and that is our ability to keep the Garden vibrant and resilient, and the collections diverse and meaningful, in the face of climate change. Consider that climate scientists predict a trend for this region characterized by warmer, drier, longer summers, and winters with more intense rainfall events and less snow accumulation at elevation. Our gardens have always required supplemental water (irrigation) in late spring and summer because our soils are not particularly moisture retentive. In fact, what passes for soil in the Botanical Garden (and the rest of Point Grey) is a shallow layer of organic matter derived from a few thousand years of leaf and conifer-needle deposition sitting atop compacted layers of sands and gravels deposited by glaciers thousands of years ago. Unlike the agricultural soils in the Fraser Valley, local forest soils like ours typically have no deep reservoir from which moisture can be extracted once the weather becomes hot and dry. An increase in heat and summer evaporation will unfortunately only increase moisture demand. Couple that with a diminishing supply of water from snow melt on the North Shore mountains (where we get our water) and the unrelenting need that will come from Vancouver’s increasing population, and we have not only a potential disaster staring us down, but a serious responsibility to take action.
Botanical Garden staff understand that we have to garden differently in light of these changes. Our horticulturists have been responding to changing environmental conditions for years—it’s what gardeners do. In the Garden, initiatives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of irrigation systems are linked to the introduction of more climate-adapted plants and techniques to reduce moisture loss from the soil. The Pacific Slope Garden is a showcase in this respect: plants from northern California and southern Oregon, already adapted to the climatic extremes we are expecting here, are being grown and tested with little or no summer irrigation. This is not the only place we are making changes, but we also know that these measures alone are not enough. Capturing and storing the bounty of our winter rainfall so that it can be used to irrigate our valuable collections is our next big challenge.
The Botanical Garden’s plant collections provide material for research and opportunities for education at every level. Visitors tell us that our plants are appreciated for their beauty, and equally for their cultural, historical and ecological value. For many, UBC Botanical Garden is a place of respite and reflection, a home for community events and celebrations, for study and for sustaining mental and physical health. But this can only be achieved because our gardens and horticulturists support and maintain the biodiversity that keeps garden ecosystems beautiful and resilient. We are working hard to make UBC Botanical Garden as valuable to future generations as it is today.
Acer oliverianum
Asian Garden fog
Fuchsia ‘Little Giant’
Gaultheria mucronata
Ginkgo biloba
Hedychium spicatum
Juniperus communis
Lonicera ligustrina var. pileata
Mahonia japonica ‘Hiemalis’
Prunus ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’
Vaccinium cylindraceum
Written by:
Douglas Justice
Associate Director, Horticulture and Collections
UBC Botanical Garden
The post November in the Garden 2026 appeared first on UBC Botanical Garden.