Wetland Ethnobotanical Garden
See the list of plants in the garden, and learn about their W̱SÁNEĆ cultural uses.
The garden is located on SḴŦAḴ / Mayne Island in BC’s Gulf Islands, on the east side of the new Thrift Shop building at 424 Fernhill Rd across from the Agricultural Hall in Miners Bay. It will grow and thrive on land fed by an artesian well that keeps the soil marshy and wet, even in the drought times of summer. Garden projects on SḴŦAḴ require protection from deer, and the wetland garden is enclosed by deer fencing.
We are lucky to have so many garden and landscape experts contributing to this project including Adrienne Brown, Rob Underhill , Michael Dunn, Trisha Glatthaar, David Rea, Richard DeArmond, Linda Beer, Judith Lyn Arney, Sarah Jim, Kyle Clarke, and Hannah Glass.
“Essentially, I make art to advocate for the land, because visual art is a really accessible way to start these dialogs, and to have a touchstone or a starting conversation about restoration; why restoring the land is important, and why native plants are important.”
“I’m excited to come back in the spring and see the flowers and berries and things come to life… it’ll be really beautiful to see these plants over the seasons, and that’s how you learn who they are, is to see them throughout their life cycle.”
“Bringing back the indigenous species to their homelands is affecting all of the beautiful creatures - relatives - coming back, flying back, crawling back to those lands. That’s a part of reconciliaction.”
“This project is more than just a garden, it is bringing the indigenous species back to their homelands. And that’s how we feel every time we come back to SḴŦAḴ - that we’re coming to our homelands to have presence, to let people know we’re still here, and that this is our home.”
“The site contains a gradient of soil moisture and sun exposure conditions, which allowed us to include a diversity of species. There are currently 42 species in the garden, which were collected for their suitability for the site and for their ethnobotanical values”.
“Once we put the plants down on the ground, I could just see birds coming along, wildlife coming into the garden, and that was lovely because they weren’t even planted at that point, they were just in their pots.”
PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱, pronounced puh-pay-kuh-n-how-t, means ‘Blossoming Place’ in SENĆOŦEN.
Working with partners across W̱SÁNEĆ territory, the Foundation carries out education, resiliency, and land healing initiatives. They have projects at SṈIDȻEȽ (Tod Inlet), ȾIKEL (a wetland restoration project at the Tribal School ), HELEṈIḴEN (Horticulture Centre of the Pacific), ȾIX̱EṈ (Cordova Spit), QENENIW̱ (on S,DÁYES / Pender Island), and are now working with us on SḴŦAḴ / Mayne Island to create the wetland ethnobotany garden.
SPAḴEṈ / flower
Learn the pronunciation
New plant growth emerging in April 2024, the garden’s first spring
Harvesting specimens, building the wooden infrastructure, and planting the garden
Concept Plans
Concept Plan prepared by M. Kilpatrick
Ethnobotany Garden layout prepared by Adrienne Browne, Landscape Architect