Media Release | Mar. 20, 2002

Spring events at UBC Botanical Garden include Rare Plant Auction

A gala auction of rare, unusual and specimen plants has been added to the line-up of popular spring events at UBC's Botanical Garden.

More than 300 trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and alpine plants will be on offer at the Collector's Plant Auction on April 18, 2002 at Cecil Green Park House beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The plants have been donated by private collectors, nurseries, garden centres and the Botanical Garden and will be sold individually and in groups at live and silent auctions throughout the evening.

Proceeds from the event, hosted by the Friends of the Garden, will go to the Gerald Straley Memorial Fund.

Straley was curator of collections and a research scientist at the UBC Botanical Garden and served as honorary director of the Herbarium in the Dept. of Botany. He died on Dec. 11, 1997 at the age of 52. It was his wish that a fund be set up to support the ongoing maintenance of the Botanical Garden's outstanding plants collections.

Tickets for the event are $125. For more information, call the Botanical Garden Office at 604.822.3928.

Other Botanical Garden events happening again this year are:

The Lunchtime at the Garden 2002 Lecture Series. It starts March 21 with a talk on Climbers for Gardens and Containers. Other topics include Summer Bulbs, March 28, Native Plants, April 4, and What's New in Planters, April 11. All talks run from 12 noon - 1 p.m. at the Garden.

The Native Plant Sale, Sunday, April 7, 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. It features a large selection of native plants from commercial and non-commercial growers.

The Mother's Day Perennial Plant Sale, Sunday, May 12, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. There will be 12,000 perennials on offer, including unusual and hard to find varieties.

For more information on these events, contact the Garden at 604.822.3928.

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Contact

David Tarrant
UBC Botanical Garden
604.822.3916

Michelle Cook
UBC Public Affairs
Tel: 604.822.2048
E-mail: michelle.cook@ubc.ca