Excitement builds at Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden as the 15-year master plan nears completion. On Jan. 10, Garden members saw the layout plan showing this vital roadmap for the future. Eileen Finn and Leila Zeppelin of landscape architecture firm Lees + Associates presented the plan, including examples of signage, wayfinding, new pathways and plantings, and a more detailed plan of a revamped and greatly improved entrance.
“The master plan lays out a powerful vision,” Finn said. “This is a huge step in solidifying the Botanical Garden’s place as a true treasure of the Sunshine Coast and the province, an exciting milestone. We are proud of the work that has been accomplished in collaboration with the Garden’s master plan committee and board, as well as botanical garden experts from UBC, Toronto, and the U.K.”
SC Botanical Garden president Paddy Wales said, “It is exhilarating to look forward with increased clarity and purpose. The master plan expresses our mission as a Pacific Northwest Botanical Garden that inspires the community. Planning with Lees + Associates has been an in-depth examination of our site, our opportunities, our capacity and how to give stronger service to the community.”
Phase 1 revamps the way visitors find and enter the Garden, creating an experience of happy anticipation and choices of how to proceed to destinations such as the Working Garden (vegetables, seniors, potting, bees) and an expanded Coastal Garden. As weather warms, walkabouts with the plan in hand to explain this vision of the future will be offered.
A detailed blueprint of the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden master plan is on display at the Garden, at 5941 Mason Rd. in West Sechelt, open four days a week during winter, Friday to Monday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., by donation. For information, see www.coastbotanicalgarden.org
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