Vancouver has two important botanical gardens, UBCBG out on Marine Drive and Van Dusen Botanical Display Garden, a Vancouver Parks facility on Oak Street. The main attraction of the Canadian Rockies is the mountains themselves and their forests and other natural features. Try searching "banff-jasper national park."

You may wish to take a chance on picking up a few cones. Some species do not necessarily shed all their seed, and it's often possible to get viable seeds from cones on the ground. In particular you may wish to try subalpine larch--they are not common in the trade and are easy to grow from seed. We've gotten a few from cones that looked like they had to be too old.

Not clear on how much time you'll be in Vancouver or what you'd really be interested in, but I'd echo Ron's suggestion of UBC for sure. Stanley Park in the city might be of interest as we've just had a big storm and lots of blow downs.

Also, will you have someone showing you around, and what's your mode of transport? You're welcome to email me off-list with more specs for your stay, and I can give you more detailed suggestions.

KarinL

Check out the Calgary Zoo. The Calgarians have done a wonderful job. The botanical gardens and prehistoric park are outstanding.

Here is a link that might be useful: Calgary Zoo.

Thanks you all, I will be there for about two week, nobody will show me the city. I will rent a car so that I can go to Calgary and the different parks in between.. I will visit the UBC and the Calagry Zoo for sure, but I can't wait to see the Canadian Rockies.
Is it illegal to brind seeds or cones from Canada to the US. If not I will try to collect some seed, but I'm 100% sure none of the species that grow there will make it here. What should I expect other than:
Larix lyallii
Pseudotsuga menziesii (glauca and menziesii)
Cham. nootkatensis
Picea engelmanni
Picea glauca??
Abies lasiocarpa

Are there some large P. menziesii aroun Vanvouver or Victoria?
Thank you

osprey

"The largest volume tree is the Red Creek Fir, about 18 km by road from Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The tree is widely known and directions for locating it are available in Port Renfrew. In December 1998 I visited this tree with Dr. Robert Van Pelt and we collected precise measurements in research for his book (Van Pelt 2001). In 1998 it was measured as having a height of 73.8 m, dbh of 423 cm, and crown spread of 23 m, for a total wood volume of 349 m3. This tree is the largest known individual in the family Pinaceae."

Here is a link that might be useful: Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii description

Hi Osprey,
"What should I expect other than"
Also:
Abies amabilis (Pacific coastal mountains)
Abies grandis
Juniperus communis
Juniperus scopulorum
Larix occidentalis
Picea glauca var. albertiana (eastern Rockies)
Picea sitchensis (coastal)
Pinus albicaulis (treeline)
Pinus contorta ssps. contorta (coast), latifolia (interior)
Pinus flexilis (eastern Rockies)
Pinus monticola
Pinus ponderosa
Taxus brevifolia
Thuja plicata
Tsuga heterophylla
Tsuga mertensiana

Resin

Yes, I was going to mention hemlocks.

I'm mostly an urban chicken, so I see lots of trees that are not necessarily native but grow well here. In Vancouver I see a lot of Cedrus deodora, Picea mariana (I think), and the aforementioned hemlocks, not sure what kind they are but I've always thought canadensis. I just realized your original post doesn't even mention Vancouver, don't know how we ended up assuming you were coming here too, but that is where UBC is!

Anyway, there are parks, islands, and more to explore on the coast, quite aside from the charms of the inland landscape. Funnily enough, my aunt and uncle just took a trip to your part of the world and we recently oohed and aahed over their photos!

KarinL

Title of thread is Vancouver-Calgary.

Thanks to everyone again. I didn't know I can find all those native species there, now the problem will be IDing them.... Well, I'll take some pics and share with you all.
I don't think I will have time to go and see the Red Creek fir, but for sure some big ones.
KarinL, sorry, I forgot to mention Vancouver, but that is the place where I'll be most of the time, and for sure I will visit the UBC. Glad you like this part of the world...I'll try to email you this week

osprey

"Title of thread is Vancouver-Calgary."

Oh, that's right - I knew it was somewhere :-)

Hope we conjure up some good weather for you!

Regarding transport of seeds:

The USDA will not allow you to transport seeds without a permit. It is illegal in Canada to remove anything, including seeds, from a National park and virtually all of the Canadian Rockies are in a National Park.

Regarding what to see:
Parks Canada has links to the various National Park websites, each of which has maps, plant check lists, suggested viewing spots, hiking trail descriptions and so on. Check out Banff, Jasper, Glacier, Waterton, Yoho and Kootenay. Park interpretative staff provide guided hikes and it is worth your while to ask if any will occur while you are there. The alpine meadows should be in bloom, well worth seeing them as well as the trees. Get Peterson's Rocky Mountain Wildflower guide or the Lone Pine guide to Rocky Mountain Plants before you go.

Each park has a "Friends" organization, a non profit association of volunteers. Their websites have lots of information as well. The following url links to the various "Friends"

http://www.friendsofbanff.com/links.htm

There is an GPS based Audio Guide that you can rent from the stores that the "Friends" have. Get it when you enter the Parks. It provides commentary through your car radio about the area you are driving through.

http://www.stgcnd.com/

I was in Banff this weekend (June 1) for a conference and the ice had just left the mountain lakes, birches and aspens were just starting to leaf out. I never tire of the drive between Banff and Jasper --spectacular scenery and lots of hiking/viewing spots.

BTW, it takes about 2 days to drive from Vancouver to the Rockies, 3 to 4 hours between Banff and Jasper (a full day if you stop to look at stuff) and one and a half hours from Banff to Calgary. The coastal mountain range between Vancouver and the Rockies is interesting, if you go via Kamloops you will see desert plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Parks Canada

The Canadian rockies aren't gonna miss a couple of seeds, and they shouldn't be too hard to make inconspicuous on your return to the states. Some regulations deserve to be ignored.

Agreed, it's one thing to do a Benedict Roezl*, and another thing altogether to collect a few seeds and cones, not removing whole plants.

Resin

* 1850s plant hunter who collected Mexican & South American orchids by the shipload - literally - to send back to Europe.

The concern is about introducing pests and diseases. These may only require a small amount of plant material to come in on. New nightmare organisms continue to be discovered in the United States, Phytophthora ramorum for instance is believed to be an import and may perfectly well be on the brink of ravaging forests and nursery crops over an extensive area.

"The concern is about introducing pests and diseases"

In respect of restricting live plant imports into nations, yes; but not in respect of removing seeds from national parks (which is what was being discussed!).

Resin

I know there is always a chance of an isolated pathogen lurking somewhere, but in this instance I would think anything that might be found between Vancouver and Calgary is already in Washington, Idaho or Montana. I would be bringing back muddy hiking boots with seeds imbedded. Lets see, Abies grandis by the big toe, pinus flexilis by the arch...

tj

Please respect Park regulations regarding removal of plant material; seeds are important for wildlife food as well as a source for future plants. Over 4 million people visit Banff every year, imagine if they all removed seeds. If you are a researcher or have a legitimate need for seeds you can apply for a collection premit.

Seeds can be legally purchased, there is no need to steal them.

>but not in respect of removing seeds from national parks (which is what was being discussed!)Your statement was "seeds and cones." Scroll up.

"Your statement was "seeds and cones"

Cones are not propagatable living plants, just receptacles for the seeds. The EU at least does not restrict their entry in the same way that live plants are restricted.

"If you are a researcher or have a legitimate need for seeds you can apply for a collection permit"

Ever tried getting one? The red tape, and restrictions, in some cases that I've seen, are ridiculous, and make it impossible for all but an extremely small number of official state institutions. Private individuals, however legitimate and valid their research might be, are not entitled to apply. (Note, this may not apply to Canadian National Parks, I don't know what specific regulations apply there).

"Seeds can be legally purchased"

Though most such are not accompanied by any documentation of source, etc., that a grower might want, or may not come from a particular population that a grower may wish to study. And never accompanied by a vouchered herbarium specimen to document the identity.

"Over 4 million people visit Banff every year, imagine if they all removed seeds"

Not a very valid argument. 99.999% of those 4 million have no interest in collecting seed. What would be sensible, is if they had say, 1000 collecting permits per year, freely available on request, without any red tape. That would enable management of collecting at a low level that would not harm the environment. Some places in the US at least, do have arrangements like this (e.g. BLM land).

Resin

I got some pics for you.. hope you like them, you can see how the forest changes as you go deeper in the mountains
Stanley Park (Vancouver)

osprey

Very nice pics!

High summer in Vancouver, but still winter in Whistler!

Resin

Interesting to see home turf through a visitor's eyes. Hope you had a good time here and thank you for posting photos.

KarinL

Yep, truly amazing.

Thanks osprey,

Dax

Some seeds contain insects, others may have pathogenic organisms on them. This is not a secret, one has only to start gathering seeds to see that they are from clean. There are forest insects which attack seeds of conifers specifically.