The Botanical Garden Site
The Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden is located at 5941 Mason Road, Sechelt. From Sechelt, access is along Hwy 101,
turn right up Norwest Bay Road, then right on Mason Road. From further up the Coast, access from Hwy 101 by turning
left up Mason Road. The sign and address are easily visible on the left (west) side of the road.
This exceptional 16-hectare (40-acre) property is ideally suited for a botanical garden. Its past as an ornamental tree farm has 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 created a highly productive and beautiful vegetable garden
What's Next?
We are doing infrastructure work as a result of major grants from the Federal Government (CAF grant) and the British Columbia Government (ICE-T grant). This includes site surveys, water lines, roadways and pathways, septic fields, a parking lot, drainage ditches, and so on. Renovation of the stable into a Volunteer Centre and erection of our first building, the Education Centre are underway. Public access to the site will be limited during construction.
Site Tours
As construction on the infrastructure GroundWork project has commenced, access to the site will be limited. There are tours 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 info@coastbotanicalgarden.org well in advance.
We keep a record of comments by visitors and these comments can be viewed online. 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 |
|
| 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 | ||