VanDusen Botanical Gardens, British Columbia

After the hike at Lynn Canyon Park (and a delicious lunch at Tour de Feast), we drove to VanDusen Botanical Gardens in Vancouver. The gardens closed at 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays, so we had just over an hour to explore it.

There were many plants and flowers in the garden, but the vast majority were not blooming. Here is a map of the VanDusen Gardens:

We followed the southern path, past the blooming Rhododendrons, to the maze (the southern course).

Most of the Rhododendrons were just beginning to bloom - as it was still winter in Vancouver.

There were a few contemporary statues sprinkled in the garden.

The maze was quite fun and easy to get lost in.

A tall plant marks the maze's center in the labyrinth's center.

We followed a group of other people who knew the way out to get out of the maze. There were a few kids in the maze who were using the following way to make decisions:

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,

Catch a tiger by the toe

If he hollers, let him go

My mom says pick this one 

Seeing kids picking different paths through the maze and hitting dead ends was quite amusing.

There were supposed to be some waterfalls right around the corner, but there was no water (it was a dry winter in Vancouver).

We walked by Heron Lake, where we saw a large carved "Black Eagle Canoe."

Here is an article from VanDusen Bulletin that explains the origins of this canoe:

Now another piece of significant art has found a home here – Black Eagle by acclaimed Haida artist Bill Reid (1920 – 1998). Black Eagle is a fiberglass cast of Lootaas (Wave Eater), an original wood and polychrome canoe created by Mr. Reid who was commissioned by the Bank of British Columbia to carve an ocean-going canoe for Expo ‘86, the theme of which was transportation. 

Made from a 750-year-old cedar log, Lootaas was the first ocean canoe of this size to be carved in nearly a century. The Canadian Museum of Civilization later commissioned Mr. Reid to create the Black Eagle fiberglass canoe from a mould of his original Lootaas dugout canoe. Black Eagle was later acquired by the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, with financial support from Charles and Gail Pancerzewski. The canoe’s eagle design represents one of two main social groups of Haida culture; the other being raven. At 15.2 meters in length and weighing 4,000 lbs., a special crane was required to move the canoe from the storage facility to its present location on the peninsula on the south west side of Heron Lake. There it sits, on long-term loan from the Bill Reid Gallery, looking as if it is just about to launch. The intricate paddle designs and traditional sails for this canoe were also painted under the direction of Mr. Reid, and are on display at the Bill Reid Gallery – a public gallery for contemporary Aboriginal Art of the Northwest Coast, at 639 Hornby Street, Vancouver.

After examining the canoe, we continued our stroll through the rest of the garden.

A few trees from South America had a very peculiar cone shape/look.

It was closing time, so we headed back to the entrance. Alex was a bit cold, so we ordered him some tea.

The VanDusen building has a very modern look that suits the gardens nicely.