Free Admission & Thousands of Plants at the VanDusen Gardens Plant Sale

Image courtesy of VanDusen Botanical Gardens | Facebook.com

The VanDusen Botanical Garden will be buzzing with more than bees this weekend as thousands of avid gardeners descend on the hotly anticipated VanDusen Plant Sale. This free event takes place on Sunday, April 24th and typically attracts over 10,000 people looking for great deals on over 20,000 plants.

The sale lasts for just one day and is only made possible by the 400 volunteers that pitch in to help with the event. Best of all, admission is 100% free, so after checking out the plants (and the crowd) you can take a quick wander around the beautiful gardens.

If you’ve never attended the plant sale before, it’s probably a good idea to bring some sort of wheelbarrow or carrying device. Seriously. The hard-cores get there hours before the opening time (10am) so they’ll get a chance at the good stuff.

Image courtesy of the VanDusen Botanical Garden

The 2016 VanDusen Plant Sale is focused on “Planters & Patios”, which is a great for the rising population of apartment and condo dwellers in Vancouver.

Plants for sale include:

Berries
Fruit trees
Herbs (so many herbs!)
Begonias
Perennials
Succulents and Cacti
Tomatoes (so many different types of tomatoes!)
Mushroom kits
Vines
and much, much more

There is a 36 page plant sale catalogue, if you want a better idea of what will be on sale. This includes instructions on what to plant and where and some sage advice about each type of plant and flower.

If you’re interested in growing an edible garden this year, there is an impressive selection of herbs for culinary, medicinal, and showy purposes. If you have no idea what anything is, the volunteers at each table are incredibly helpful for how to keep the plants alive.

VanDusen Plant Sale Tips

The doors open on Sunday, April 24 at 10am sharp and close at 4pm
The huge lineup starts to form as early as 6 or 7 am, but you can usually walk straight in after 10:30am
Admission to VanDusen is free on Plant Sale Day
Bring something to carry your purchases in, whether it’s a wheelbarrow or a bucket
Visa, MasterCard, debit, cash, and cheque are all accepted
Master gardeners and volunteers are eager to help – ask lots of questions!