Incarvillea mairei

UBC Botanical Garden started in 1916 with 900 species. By the late 1930s, the Botanical Garden included significant collections of British Columbia natives, willows, alpines, aquatics and medicinal plants, as well as native and exotic trees in the campus arboretum. Unfortunately, much of the old collections were lost or integrated with the campus plantings. The only remnants visible today are some very fine trees in the original arboretum.

Today, the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden collections include those of the main garden, the Botanical Garden Nursery and Nitobe Memorial Garden. Nitobe Memorial Garden is an authentic Japanese tea and stroll garden, but is also a documented collection of Japanese and British Columbia native plants.

Collections policy at UBC Botanical Garden follows a number of important criteria. These include providing plants and plant materials for academic study and research (based primarily on germplasm of documented wild origin), using plants to create attractive public displays, and providing the public with new plants through partnerships with local horticulture industry.

University of British Columbia Botanical Garden houses a number of significant plant group collections, these include: Acer, Clematis, Cornus, Epimedium, hardy Eucalyptus, Hebe, Lardizabalaceae, Lindera, Magnolia, Rhododendron, Sorbus, Styracaceae, BC native flora, alpines and Chinese flora.