UBC Botanical Gardens and Planning for Future Celebrations

Today, we spent the morning at UBC Botanical Gardens. We toured the gardens, including the vegetable patch and outdoor learning space. It was such a beautiful space with a really interesting variety of plants from around the world.

                             

We ate lunch with some students from a Richmond school and Susan was kind enough to play us some music afterwards! 

We spent the afternoon planning for the future celebrations at the garden. Come on down if you're free- next Thursday we are throwing a Summer Solstice Party and next Saturday we're hosting a workshop in the orchard garden!

Land Art and a Garden Party - Stacey and Manuelle

We spent a wonderful morning at Norma Rose Point Elementary School running an outdoor lesson with some students! We had the opportunity to discover the rain garden they have in their school yard last week, knowing that we would come back to do an activity with a group of students from grades 1/2 and 6. After some great collaborative brainstorming, we settled on a land art lesson. We greeted the students in a grassy area between the rain garden and the edge of the Pacific Spirit forest, welcoming them to the space as Susan played a beautiful summer solstice song on her accordion (which many students were very curious about). Along with some brief introductions, Susan re-taught a song about the first summer day in a garden, which the students has already heard when the secondary CFE students came last month, and we grounded the group in the space with a rainstorm soundscape.  

We then read the first half of the beautifully illustrated book Be a Good Ancestor written by Leona and Gabrielle Prince and illustrated by Carla Joseph, which set us up perfectly to introduce the land art activity.

In small groups, mixing the younger and older students, the students created a piece of land art using materials found in the space. We talked to the students about harvesting materials that were already on the ground and supplementing their supplies with additional materials harvested honourably. We talked about only taking what we needed and thanking the plants and the trees for the materials they gave us permission to take. We let the students know that we would be leaving our art piece as an offering to the land. I think both the students and the teacher candidates had a great time throughout the morning! 

We spent the afternoon back at the Orchard Garden for a fun work party. It’s amazing to see the transformation of the spaces we’ve tended to over the last two weeks! We pruned the tomato and cucumber plants to give them space to grow, watered the garden, and cleared the garlic bed from so many weeds (a very satisfying job). We also harvested a bounty of raspberries and prepared some blackberry leaves in preparation for the Summer Solstice celebration next week. 

 

 

Week 2 : Math in the Garden

Today, we spent the whole day in the garden discovering elements of math using varieties of methods.

We learned how to track the pathway of the sun by using bodily movements. This was easy to follow along and understand through motor experience.

This practice helped us understand how the changes of the seasons and the length of daylight in the northern/southern hemispheres are dependent on the pathways of the sun.

We first used our arms to distinguish the direction of the earth as it faces the sun.

Then, we created motions with our hands and arms to show where the sun would begin, reach its peak point, and come down.

We also looked at the ways of how we could incorporate creative/artistic methods (for example, this light box photography) to represent the solar pathways throughout a long period of time.

 

Week 2- Wednesday June 18, 2025

 Today we had a fun day doing math in the garden! We spent the morning learning how to trace the path of the sun using our body.

Coding unplugged in the garden!

Unexpected rain in the garden!

Binary systems, even and odds

Bid- Binary digit

Coding was really fun to learn in the garden. It was very useful to learn how we could make use of our space outside and how we could use the activities we did today in our own classes. We did an activity with sticks and flowers where we created a random array of sticks and flowers and then one of them was switched and someone had to guess which one it was. This was fun to do and it was fun to learn the reasoning behind how the stick or flower that was switched can be identified. The magic was counting the even or odd number of sticks or flowers. This would be fun to do with students to get them thinking. Another activity we did was creating a coding pattern and then having someone follow the instructions we created to find a specific object. This would be great to do in a class and there are so many cross curricular connections and lessons that students can take away from the activity! For example, students can learn the importance of giving specific instructions, following instructions, teamwork, etc. This activity can also be tied into ADST and math. In my practicum class, we did coding and it was very valuable for students to learn teamwork as well as the importance of specific instructions. I would love to try the activity we did today with a class in the future! This activity can also be adapted for younger or older students making the criteria for the coding instructions simpler or more complicated.

Some math in the garden resources

George Hart and Elisabeth Heathfield’s Making Math Visible website, including instructions on making a model of our hyperboloid gates (designed by George and built collaboratively):

https://makingmathvisible.com/

Instructions:

https://makingmathvisible.com/Hyperboloid/Hyperboloid.html

And here is a short film George made about the gates in the UBC Orchard Garden:

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2014/11/14/mathematical-impressions-curved-and-straight/

*****

We can track the path of the sun in the sky with our bodies, here in Vancouver at 49° North latitude, or wherever we happen to be!

Here’s a video of an activity like the one we are trying out today, and a handout from that workshop. Video direct link: https://youtu.be/ZZ0dlGvcpkM?feature=shared

Many thanks to astrophysicist and physics educator Benoit Pfeiffer for initiating this activity, and to UK mathematical artist Nick Sayers for teaching us how to do 6 month solargrams.

Here is Justin Quinnell’s how-to video on making a six-month pinhole camera: https://youtu.be/wtZOWEB_wcI?si=DivFPQSNCGD_viaB

… and a gallery of these kinds of images: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2015/06/10/pinhole-cameras-trace-ghostly-track-of-sun-across-brighton-and-hove-sky/

Below: Six month (solstice to solstice) pinhole camera solargram of the sky to the south of the UBC Orchard Garden, from summer to winter solstice.

Tuesday, June 17, 2025 - Morning at Nitobe Memorial Garden and Afternoon at UBC Orchard Garden

 

We spent a peaceful and relaxing morning strolling at Nitobe Memorial Garden, an authentic Japanese garden which UBC Botanical Garden is stewarding and which is part of UBC Faculty of Science. It has Pacific Northwest native trees and Japanese trees. There is an authentic teahouse in which tea ceremonies are sometimes conducted. This beautiful garden gave me insight into Japanese culture for which I am grateful. Here are photos I took at the garden.

After our visit to Nitobe Memorial Garden, we went to Scarfe building to finish planning for this Thursday’s nature based activity which we will be conducting at Norma Rose Point Elementary School. We spent the afternoon at UBC Orchard Garden transplanting brussels sprouts and watering Garry Oak Meadow, Three Sisters, Food Forest, transplanted tomatoes, and transplanted cucumbers. It was a productive and enjoyable time spent working together. Gardening is new to me so I am grateful to have learned new gardening skills over these past few days. 

Winnie

Connecting with Nature: From Nitobe Garden to the Orchard Garden

In the morning, we began our day at the UBC Nitobe Memorial Garden, one of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan. As we strolled through the garden, we were struck by its calming and peaceful atmosphere. It’s early summer, so the landscape is lush and green—but I imagine it is equally beautiful in other seasons: cherry blossoms in spring, golden leaves in autumn, and snow-covered scenes in winter.

The Nitobe Garden serves as a bridge between Japanese and Western cultures. Designed in the traditional Japanese style, both architecturally and in its landscaping, the garden is a space of reflection and harmony. A highlight is the Japanese tea house, where visitors can attend formal tea ceremonies at scheduled times.

In the afternoon, we returned to the orchard garden to tend to our vegetable plants. The tomato and cucumber seedlings we planted last Thursday and nurtured with extra care yesterday looked noticeably healthier today. Some of us watered the tomatoes, while others prepared garden beds for future plantings, and even had the chance to plant a few Brussels sprouts. Our garden is becoming more vibrant; the raspberries are starting to ripen. 

I was once again reminded of the effort that goes into growing even a single plant. From weeding and soil preparation to daily care, gardening is a time-intensive and thoughtful process. We were disheartened by the condition of our tomato plants yesterday, but seeing their recovery today was a powerful reminder that growth takes time, patience, and care. More than anything, this experience deepened our connection with the natural world—a meaningful learning outcome from our time in the orchard garden. 

By Zeynep :) 

June 16 -Morning at MOA

 

In the morning we got to go to the MOA, Museum of Anthropology on

campus. We got to see some of the new exhibits by Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore. The pieces were focused on colonialism and the direct impact on Indigenous communities. It is important to me that in my work as a future educator I am always amplifying Indigenous voices, and a way I have done this is through bringing in stories and art by Indigenous authors. 

 

At the garden we have been given the opportunity to try rope making, and some of us have tried weaving as well. At the Moa there is a lot of beautiful woven baskets and art pieces done by Indigenous people. I will attach at the bottom some pictures of the signs by the baskets so that you can read a bit more about it. It shares how different materials were gathered to make the baskets and this I connected to how we used different natural materials to make rope. These baskets were so intricate and beautiful and when I looked at it I thought of all the hard work that went into each piece. I also thought about how the materials would need to be gathered to make it and how much time, love, and effort went into each one. 

Afternoon of Gardens on Campus

1. Roots on the Roof

To start off our afternoon today, we visited the “Roots on the Roof” garden on the rooftop of the AMS Nest. There, we met with Andy who gave us a tour of the garden and introduced us to their purpose and plants! 

Entrance to "Roots on the Roof" garden and sign About Roots on the Roof:

Roots on the roof is a student-led club that manages the rooftop garden on the AMS Nest.  It was founded in 2014 as an offshoot of the Orchard Gardens that was in the space now known as the Orchard Commons. The soil was cultivated by the Indigenous peoples so it is very rich and filled with organic matter. Part of the soil was moved to the Roots on the Roof garden. The garden has many different native plants that constantly grow and cover the soil, protecting it. Some plants in the garden include tomatoes, poppies, melons, and even a mulberry tree and cherry tree. The garden’s focus is on food sovereignty and keeping organic food as accessible as possible. Produce is weighed and sent to the AMS to be put in the Sprouts fridge. 

Panorama image of Roots on the Roof Garden

Chocolate mint leaf and plant They had chocolate mint in the garden! As a hardcore chocolate mint flavour fan, I was absolutely hooked on the sweet and minty scent. 

2. Quick visit to the Permaculture Garden

Scarfe Permaculture Garden On the way back to the Orchard Garden, we stopped by the south side of Scarfe to see how the permaculture garden was doing. 

3. Work party and plant rescue mission

Tomato plants at the Orchard Garden on June 12 and June 16 The plants from Thursday were in dire need of TLC. We had not been able to water since we were away on Friday, and they were unable to get water on the weekend. Today, we focused on giving the plants lots of extra care and water!