University of Alberta Botanic Garden, Botanical garden and arboretum in Parkland County, Canada.
The University of Alberta Botanic Garden covers 32 hectares of cultivated gardens on a 12,000-year-old sand dune shoreline, plus 65 hectares of natural areas. It holds the Aga Khan Garden, the five-acre Kurimoto Japanese Garden with its pagoda and belfry, the Patrick Seymour Alpine Garden, the Native Peoples Garden, and Dyde House by Arthur Erickson. Three indoor showhouses display tropical, arid, and temperate plants.
The garden opened in 1959 as a field laboratory for the University of Alberta's botany department. Major renovations followed flood damage in the 1970s, which reshaped the garden into its current form.
The Aga Khan Garden features woodland paths and fruit orchards, while the Kurimoto Japanese Garden displays traditional pagodas and carefully designed structures across multiple areas. These sections show how different cultures around the world create and use gardens to express their values and connection with plants.
The garden lies on Highway 60, about 11.5 km from Edmonton's western edge and 5.9 km north of Devon, roughly a 30-minute drive from Edmonton. It is open daily from 9am to 5pm, May through October. A Parkland County trail links the grounds to the North Saskatchewan River.
The Aga Khan Garden, opened in July 2018, is described as the most northerly Islamic garden in the world. It was designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and cost $25 million; its Diwan Pavilion opened in 2022.
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