Rhododendrons & so much more
While attending Burnaby in Blooms festival at the Shadbolt Centre of the Arts, I took the time to roam around the adjoining Century Gardens at Deer Lake Park. Located at the feet of the regal Tudor style historic Mathers House, the beautiful gardens boast gorgeous rhododendrons, Burnaby’s official flower.
I’ve visited the gardens numerous times, but May is my favourite month as it is peak rhodo flowering season. Most of them are so old, they have grown into attractive multi-stemmed trees exposing their reddish smooth bark. They take flowering very seriously with every stem boasting huge clusters of their simple but exquisite funnel shaped flowers. To add to the plethora of blossoms, the new foliage of the many Japanese spirea scattered throughout the gardens provide splashes of orange, red and yellow.
The many intersecting paths are easy to navigate and wrap around the many garden beds and the well-appointed pond. At the pond’s edge is a tortured and twisted Camperdown elm, Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii'. Its unusual branches and magnificent shape is an attention getter especially in the winter when its limbs are foliage free.
There were many trees worthy of note. They had been there for years. There were a number of majestic dove trees, Davidia involucrata, that were in full flower when I visited the garden in May. Their dropped flowers resemble handkerchiefs, hence their other common name. Another impressive tree was a gigantic weeping purple beech that juxtaposed the rounded green canopy of the neighbouring dove tree.
The beautifully floriferous Century Gardens is free to the public. For more information click on https://www.burnaby.ca/explore-outdoors/gardens-and-flower-displays.