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Please note:
These articles, written 2003-4, were intended not just for the benefit of local aquarists and visitors to Vancouver. Rather, they were written as part of the Travel section of Aquarticles, to show people from other cities and countries what the retail aquarium scene was like in Vancouver at that time. The articles will not necessarily be updated and things will inevitably change, so use caution if actually using the articles as a guide.

The Aquarium Stores of Vancouver Canada

by Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles.com

Part XIV:
Hawaiian Botanicals
6011 No. 7 Road, Richmond. 604-270-7712
E-mail:  info@hawaiianbotanicals.com
For location go to MAP

Up until 4 years ago, Jack Wootton worked for Canadian Airlines as an aircraft maintenance engineer, based at the Vancouver International Airport. His job often gave him opportunities to fly to the tropics, where he liked to go hiking and scuba-diving. His hikes in the tropical rainforests of Fiji and Hawaii led to a fascination with unusual tropical plants that were hard to find in Canada. He began to import them from Hawaii (hence the business name) on a small scale in his spare time, and sold them by mail order (this was before the Internet). To hold the plants, he leased property on #5 Road in Richmond and built a heated 1000 sq. ft. retail greenhouse where he kept lotus, banana plants, bromeliads, flowering gingers, heliconia and unusual palms. Then as part of the display he set up an 'Amazon pond' and stocked it with a few water lilies and aquatic plants. Walk-in customers began to show more and more interest in the pond plants so he added a long row of aquariums, and his greenhouse soon became 75% aquatic.

He continued to learn about horticulture and importing and shipping plants, and in late 1994 took the plunge and bought the property he has now. The lot was heavily treed, and Jack spent the summer of 1995 clearing the property while his wife, Jeanie, managed the greenhouse at the old location.

Jack's operation is now well-established and contains a wide variety of exotic plants, including many of interest to aquatic gardeners and pondkeepers.

I took this tour in mid-July 2004, which was a good time to see the plants at their best: 

  
Hawaiian Botanicals faces an open field in a rural area of Richmond. Nearby properties are typically used for blueberry and cranberry farming, flower and market gardening, dairy farms and golf courses.

Click on photos for enlargements, then go "Back"

The nursery is open 10am - 6pm (closed Mondays) from March 14 to October 31, and 10am - 5pm (closed Sundays and Mondays) in winter.

A path from the front gate leads past some colourful plants to the 4000 sq. ft. tropical greenhouse...

...where I found Jack's wife Jeanie watering the plants.

Jack showed me the tropical water lilies (Nymphaea)...

...which are kept in rows of large tubs.

  
There were about 24 varieties of tropical water lilies for sale, including Nymphaea 'Pink Capensis' and N. 'Pink Star'.

  
N. 'St. Louis Gold' and N. 'Midnight'. Prices were $30 to $50 each.

     
Some lilies have beautiful leaves, such as N. 'Queen of Siam',  N. 'Strutevanti' (a night bloomer), and N. 'Electra Sky Blue'.

Nearby was a row of tropical rushes and marginal plants...

...and also some floating plants...

     
...Butterfly fern (Salvinia natans), water lettuce (Pistia stratoides), and water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes).

  
In the centre of the tropical house is a tropical display garden, with a double pond.

  
One of Jack's favourite plants is the 'sacred lotus of the Orient', a spectacular flowering bog plant that, with some care, can be successfully kept even in Canada's cold climate zones. Jack has 20 different Chinese varieties, and 10 varieties/hybrids from American growers. He also grows both species: the Nelumbo nucifera, found throughout Asia; and Nelumbo lutea, which is indigenous to eastern North America from Florida all the way north to Ontario.
In Asia the tubers are eaten as food (and when found here in grocery stores the tubers can be planted and sometimes will grow). They also have religious significance - Buddha is often depicted sitting cross-legged holding a lotus.
Jack wrote an article about how to care for this plant, which may be found in the Ponds section of Aquarticles at http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/Wootton_Sacred_Lotus.html

Besides aquatic plants, another of the nursery's specialties is carnivorous and insectivorous plants, managed by Jeanie. These are plants that have evolved ways to attract and entrap insects and other small creatures.

     
Here is the famous Venus fly trap (Dionaea muscipula), a bog plant indigenous to only a small part of N. and S. Carolina. In the Pacific Northwest (zone 8), it can be over-wintered outdoors in a peaty bog garden, but is also suitable for a well-lighted terrarium.
It gains nutrients by digesting insects. They are drawn to the exuded nectar on the traps, and their movements cause the leaves to snap shut.
Visitors are asked not to touch the plants - 'Closing without food depletes energy.'

  
Another perennial carnivorous herb is the Sarracenia, a North American bog plant also commonly known as the pitcher plant, flytrap, sidesaddle plant, huntsman's cup, or frog's britches. It is also hardy here.
I found out a little about them:
"Insects are attracted to the colorful leaf rosettes that resemble flowers; the red lip of the "pitcher" is particularly attractive as a landing zone. Red veins that lead downward are baited with nectar. Following this lure, prey reach the curve of the tube, which is lined with fine hairs, all pointing downward. The animal falls into the pitcher, which contains rain, dew, and a digestive enzyme that soon dissolves the victim.
"Classified as carnivorous rather than insectivorous because consumption includes not only insects but also isopods, mites, spiders, and the occasional small frog. While a diet of meat helps the plants remain vigorous, grow larger, and produce more flowers, it does not appear essential for the survival of individual plants. This unusual life style has evolved as a means of obtaining nutrients in places otherwise deficient in them. In addition to phosphorus and nitrogen, pitcher plants obtain vitamins and other trace minerals from their prey."

  
These red Sarracenia, Sarracenia leucophylla x psittacina and S. flava x psittacina were $24.75 each.

    
Sundews are found throughout the world. "These unique carnivorous plants attract their victims with a glistening morsel of nectar, or so the insect thinks! Once the insect gets stuck, the tendrils will close around the victim to sting and release an enzyme to start the digestion process. They come in a variety of shapes, colours and sizes." 
Here is Drosera aliciae, a bog plant from South Africa, and Drosera multifida extrema from Australia.

The flowers of D. multifida make a nice pattern in the sky.

Sundews or Venus flytraps could be planted in these landscaped containers.

  
There were many other unusual plants in the tropical greenhouse, such as anthuriums and bromeliads. Both are indigenous to the rainforests of Central and South America.

  
These plumeria and cycads have a very 'tropical' look...

     
...as do these brightly coloured flowers of  bougainvillea, a tropical shrub of scrambling habit, and Canna 'Durban', a garden canna which can be placed in shallow water for the summer.

    
Arranged around a tree and scattered on a bench were some Tillandsia, members of the Bromeliad family, and commonly known as 'airplants.'
Here is what someone had to say about them: 
"Tillandsias are without doubt one of the World's most amazing groups of plants. They have developed the ability to take all their food and water through specially designed cells on their leaves and therefore can exist without any roots for ever. Roots are used by most species to attach themselves and nothing more. Tillandsias can grow in places no other plants can survive including electrical cable on power lines."

This plant isn't quite what it looks like, although try to explain that to the Authorities if you grow a forest of them in your basement! It is in fact the rose mallow, Hibiscus coccineus, a cold-hardy shrub indigenous to the wetlands of eastern North America. Its buds are nicer to look at than to smoke - they grow into large red flowers.

Moving outside the tropical greenhouse I found a long line of tubs containing cold-hardy water lilies - those that will over-winter outside in ponds and are not bothered by the occasional freezing weather we get here in Vancouver (Pacific Northwest Zone 8).

Prices ranged from Canadian $26 to $85. I bought three specimens this spring for a new raised pond I had built, and was lucky enough to find three tubers in one of the pots, which I was able to re-pot as three separate plants. Jack can advise which plants prefer full sun or part shade, according to the location of your pond.

The cold-hardy water lilies were outside in a long row of tubs. About 40 different varieties were available.

  
Nymphaea 'Sioux' $34, and N. 'Indiana.'

  
N. 'Texas Dawn' $40, and N. 'Denver.'

A tub full of water hawthorn (Aponogeton distachyus, oblong leaves) and yellow snowflake (Nymphoides geminata, burgundy mottled round leaves)

     
There was a good selection of rushes and marginal plants.

     
Another part of the grounds had yet more hardy lilies. Here are Nymphaea 'Escarboucle' and N. 'Peace lily.'  

  
Elodea canadensis, an oxygenating plant, and the parrot feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum).

A second greenhouse, of 1500 sq. ft. at the back of the property, is not open to retail customers. Here Jack and Jeanie store and propagate plants.

Most of the plants propagated here are carnivorous plants.

     
In this large tub Jack keeps his personal collection of koi. He has had them for nine years, and they now measure 18" to 24". Most of them are not for sale but a few duplicated varieties are, and just the day before my visit Jack had sold two for $500 each.

     
Back in the retail area there were other interesting plants, such as the purple princess flower (Tibouchina urvilleana) from Hawaii (this was called 'glory bush' where I searched, and are mostly purple flowering, although the un-opened buds look reddish), the yellow plumeria (the flowers of which are used to make the famous Hawaiian leis), and a few cacti and succulents.

Jack also sells monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana). This one is planted at the edge of the property, and there is a larger one near the house's front entrance.

  
These goldfish and small koi are for sale.

  
Pond liners are found here, and the busy workshop stocks some specialised dry goods.

  
These posters would be useful to have! They illustrate water lilies and aquatic plants.

Jack and Jeanie live in the house that is on the property. This little statuette (and the monkey puzzle tree behind it) is near their front door.

  
...Propagation room on the left, residence in the middle, and tropical greenhouse in the background...
Beside the house Jack is developing a large ornamental pond. Eventually it will be filtered and have a waterfall with a stream lined with flagstones running into it, and will be used for Jack and Jeanie's personal collection of water lilies.  Water hyacinths are meanwhile trying to take over, just as I have seen them do in tropical waterways (and where my friends in the tropics were amazed that they were actually worth a couple of dollars each here!). The pond presently contains two non-native species of fish; pumpkinseed sunfish and mosquito fish, both of which are breeding.

Jack's business has a regular cycle. It is busiest at the beginning of the pond season, starting in late March and becoming particularly hectic by late April. Extra help is hired for this period. Things slow down by mid-May and jog along all summer, slowing down even more by August. Jack has the most free time in August/September, so that is when he can work on other projects such a developing his large pond. The store's hours of opening are reduced for winter, and Jeanie goes to work in graphic design for a local wholesale company. Jack imports orchids from Brazil in October, when orchid collectors come calling, and at Christmas-time people shop for exotic plants as Christmas presents. In the New Year Jack begins propagating, importing, and getting ready for the new season.

An agapanthus proudly stands guard near the exit.

Hawaiian Botanicals is a great place to find water lilies and aquatic plants for your pond or water garden, and while you're there spend some time looking at the many strange and exotic plants that you won't find in your average local 'garden centre'!

Hawaiian Botanicals retails and wholesales plants to addresses within Canada only, through their website:  http://hawaiianbotanicals.com

For an article about water lilies, go to: Water Lilies, Family Nymphaeaceae, by Robert Fenner

End of Vancouver Aquarium Stores series

(There is a specialist marine aquarium store, J & L Aquatics, at 3430 Brighton Avenue, Burnaby, that several readers have recommended I visit.  I don't keep saltwater, so I am not known there. I have attempted to make an appointment with them six times during the last year but it was never convenient for them. Perhaps one day....?).

Another pictorial article is: A Visit to the Vancouver Aquarium

Otherwise, Back to Travel Index

Or: Go to the beginning of this series: Part I, Introduction and the Pet Boutique