The Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden is located at 5941 Mason Road, Sechelt. If you are driving from Sechelt, drive north along Hwy 101, turn right up Norwest Bay Road, and then right on Mason Road. If you are driving from further up the Coast, drive south along Hwy 101, turn left up Mason Road, proceed through the intersection and continue till you get to 5941. The sign and address are easily visible on the left side of the road.
Map showing the Garden Location
This exceptional 16-hectare (40-acre) property is ideally suited for a botanical garden. Its past as an ornamental tree farm left it with significant mature trees, grassy meadows, a nearly-intact deer fence, three irrigation ponds, and some remnant farm buildings. Paths are already established to some areas, and the deep ravine of Wakefield Creek frames the west side of the site.
The Botanical Garden will be developed over a number of years, but work has already begun. Volunteer work teams have cleared Scotch broom and done major debris cleanup. A dedicated group has created a highly productive and beautiful vegetable garden.
What have we done?
We have completed the Groundwork Project. This included site surveys, water lines, roadways and pathways, septic fields, a parking lot, drainage ditches and many other tasks. The stable has been renovated into a Volunteer Centre and our multi-purpose building, the Sparling Pavilion, has been completed and is available for rental. Public access to the site continues to be limited.
Site Tours
There are self-guided tours every Wednesday from 10am to 1pm and Sunday from noon to 4pm. There are guided at 2pm sharp every Sunday until mid-September. If you or a group wish to visit the site at other times, please make arrangements by emailing us or calling 604-740-3969 well in advance.
We keep a record of comments by visitors. These ideas will feed into our planning committee.
The Lists
We've been making lists: to do lists, lists of birds and animals sighted, lists of trees, lists of visitors and volunteers. Here are some interesting sightings:
| The Birds List |
The Animals List |
The Trees List |
| Northern flicker | Deer | Big-leaf maple |
| Spotted towhee | Douglas squirrel | Red maple |
| Red-breasted sap sucker | Bear | Quaking aspen |
| Black-headed grosbeak | Elk | Austrian pines |
| Stellar's jay | Frog | Pin oak |
| American robin | Bobcat | Sequoia |
| Song sparrow | Snake | Tulip tree |
| Turkey vulture | Cattle | Amur maple |
| Winter wren | Dog | Hornbeam |
| Dark-eyed junco | Coyote | Linden |
| Common raven | Norway spruce | |
| Golden-crowned kinglet | ||
| Barred owl |
Barred Owl 
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| Belted kingfisher | ||
| Chestnut-backed chickadee | ||
| Northwestern crow | ||
| Black-headed grosbeak | ||
| Cedar waxwing | ||
| Ruffled grouse | ||
| Northern harrier | ||
| Great gray owl | ||
| Bald eagle | ||
| Great blue heron | ||
| Mallard | ||
| Fox sparrow | ||
| Cooper's hawk | ||
| Hooded merganser | ||
| Brown creeper | ||
| Ruby-crowned kinglet | ||
| Pileated woodpecker | ||
| Trumpeter swan | ||
| Greater white-fronted goose | ||
| Canada goose | ||
| Sharp-shinned hawk | ||
| Red-tailed hawk | ||
| Rufous hummingbird | ||
| Hairy woodpecker | ||
| Western wood-pewee | ||
| Hutton's vireo | ||
| Warbling vireo | ||
| Violet-green swallow | ||
| Hermit thrush | ||
| Varied thrush | ||
| European starling | ||
| Orange-crowned warbler | ||
| Yellow-rumped warbler | Black-throated gray warbler | |
| Wilson's warbler | ||
| White-crowned sparrow | ||
| Golden-crowned sparrow | ||
| Red-wing blackbird | ||
| Brown-headed cowbird | ||
| Purple finch | ||
| Pine siskin | ||
| American goldfinch | ||