VanDusen Botanical Garden scramble to keep fragile plants alive

A Stage 3 water restriction is in effect for Metro Vancouver and with it, new rules apply to businesses like the VanDusen Botanical Garden. The crackdown on watering has left the botanical garden staff scrambling to keep their plants alive.

While the fountain at VanDusen recycles the same water, the gardens which spread out over 55 acres need to be watered by hand under the new rules. Unfortunately due to the hot weather and lack of rain, many of the plants and trees are already showing signs of stress.

READ MORE: Gulf Islands faces unique circumstances in dealing with drought

“Level 3 restrictions, they’re looking for a spring-loaded device so the water shuts off as you walk to your next garden bed,” says Howard Normann, general manager of VanDusen Botanical Garden.

“It means a lot of work for a lot of people, lots of hoses, lots of standing from spot to spot and picking out the most important parts of the collection to make sure they stay watered and stay healthy.”

The grass areas of VanDusen will be brown within days and while the staff is not concerned with the grass, they are focused on the more fragile and unique plants in the garden.

One of the most vulnerable is the rose garden. Normann says while the rose bushes will likely survive the Stage 3 restrictions, they won’t if things get worse.

“The heat we’ve been having… I’d give them a week tops before they drop all their leaves and then after that, day by day,” he says.

“Stage 4 would be catastrophic for this collection; we’d lose a lot of our collection.”

Normann says they are looking at getting water from other sources in the future either via drilling or re-activating a dormant reservoir.

“Oakridge has a huge underground aquifer, so if we could tap into the Oakridge aquifer… I think it’d be great,” says Normann.

“There’s still an active reservoir here that we might be able to reuse and fill and use that as a holding ground. At least that’s what I’d like to look at.”

~ with files from Jill Bennett