The Sino-Himalayan Garden At Van-Dusen

Gerry Gibbens March 2003

Speaker Biography

Gerry works for the Vancouver Parks Board and gardens at Van Dusen. He served his apprenticeship at Windsor Great Park in England. As President of the Vancouver Rhododendron Society, he is surely a kindred spirit.

Members were treated to a particularly rich program: Gerry Gibbens, the principal speaker, presented an historical account in words and pictures, of the development of Vancouver’s Van Dusen Garden, and from Joan Gibb, the ‘five minute’ speaker, an illustrated story on Dominion Brook Park in North Saanich.

The Van Dusen garden was established in the 1970’s on land once owned by the CPR and later, the site of a golf course. Snatched from the fate of a subdivision development, the garden was begun in 1970 and opened in 1975. Gibbens’s slides showing the contrast from the bare beginnings to the lushness of the present day, were dramatic. Of course he emphasized the rhododendrons – from the Sino-Himalayan section and the special Rhodo Walk – and we were treated to a wealth of examples: the yellows of lutescens, the tubular firecracker blooms of keysii, the mahogany bark of triflorum, the brilliant red of thomsonii, the inevitable pink of williamsianum, and more. Ah, but the delights of the companions were also presented: viburnum, primulas, clematis, aresemas, flowing ground covers, and the trees – an exotic sorbus, and maples, genuine and faux. There is so much more to see at Van Dusen, and fortunately, Norma Buckley is organizing a tour outing in May to this and other gardens in the Vancouver region. Do arrange to enlist for the trip.

Sporting a splendid blood-red corsage of strigillosum, Joan Gibb spoke eloquently of the rehabilitation of Dominion Brook Park. Created in 1913 by the Federal Department of Agriculture, this park should prove a fine site for archeologists of rhododendrondry who could happily plumb the craft of the early 20^th century. An oasis of rich verdance up to the mid-1940s, the park was gradually abandoned to the custody of ivy and blackberry as financial support fell away. Two years ago, the park was leased to North Saanich and stewardship was passed to the Friends of Dominion Brook Park Society. This group is seeking the assistance of persons knowledgeable, to help identify and advise on the rhodo section. Joan showed a fine set of slides, illustrating the rich promise of a rejuvenated Park.