Are you ready to bee Guardians of the Garden? It’s time to fly on over to VanDusen Botanical Gardens to learn all about how to help our little bzz’ing garden pollinators!The Bee Strong Challenge is a wonderful event running now until April 5th within VanDusen Botanical Garden and offers families and children a unique way to discover pollinator-friendly flowers to plant and takes you on a bit of an… adventure!
I don’t know if it’s just my kid, but if you give her a challenge she is determined to complete it. Little did she know on this challenge we’d be exploring one of Vancouver’s most iconic parks that stretches a staggering 55 acres! We’ve only ever been to Van Dusen for their amazing Christmas event and it’s only a small portion of the garden used so you can imagine her surprise at how large her map was.
Hey, bees work hard every chance they get and we’re in for it too! With the Bee Strong challenge, children and their families follow a 4km trail (4,000 steps!) similar to what our bee friends would follow while foraging for pollen and water. This event was the perfect accompaniment to an event we did locally in our neighborhood where we created mason bee houses and brought home some bee nucs to hatch. We had a big long chat about how our baby bees would hatch and have to make this journey soon themselves!
Once you’re ready to hit the trail, make sure to pick up a Bloom Guide on your way out to accompany your Bee Strong challenge map! If your adventure is anything like ours, the children will rush off ahead of you in excitement and you can hang back and check out the beautiful new blooms! The challenger path will be laid out with signs pointing you in the somewhat correct direction, if you are anything like me and super direction challenged you may get turned around a few times but *that’s okay* because the garden is stunning and one more trip past a beautiful flower bed isn’t a bad thing.
It’s pretty staggering to be standing in this vast garden that is home to over 7,500 plant species and varieties from around the world, many are in the process right now of getting ready for spring and we can’t wait to see what the garden looks like in full bloom!
While you are adventuring to complete your Bee Strong Challenge, you’ll be taken through some of the most beautiful areas including the meditation area, the Elizabethan hedge, the waterfall and many beautiful scenic areas to stop and enjoy the wildlife and backdrop or to snap some photos.
When you’re all done your bee-adventure, you’ll have plenty of time to wander through the rest of the garden if the kids will let you, if not it’s time to head back to headquarters (aka the lobby) and show the VanDusen staff your completed map to open up the magical bee reward area. I wish I had recorded the kids reaction, it was an “ooooh!” with eyes lighting up as the door slide open to reveal their hard earned surprise including a delicious purdys chocolate, a sunflower take home growth kit and a GoG badge to showcase their achievement!
If you like treats and your own BUD-DIY sunflower kit then you can also add a GoG add on for the adults in your group to follow along with the kids, Eschelle from Mumfection.com and I took part as well and had a lot of fun filling out our map and collecting our reward at the end! Don’t forget that it’s highly encouraged to dress up, don your super hero capes, your beeeeee antenna and have fun with your adventure. Open rain or shine!
VanDusen Gardens Guardians of the Garden Event Details
Where: VanDusen Botanical Gardens – 5251 Oak St, Vancouver BC
When: March 12th – April 18th, 2021
Cost:
- Adults – $11.70
- Senior – $8.20
- Youth (13-18) – $8.20
- Child (5-12) – $5.85
- Children 4 and under – free
- Guardians of the Garden add on – $8.00 per child
More info: https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/guardians-of-the-garden.aspx
{This post is shared with you in partnership with VanDusen Botanical Gardens, all garden love and beeeeee-youtiful opinions are our own}
