Tofino Botanical Gardens
Tofino Botanical Gardens are twelve acres of gardens, forest, and shoreline that explore the relationship between culture and nature. Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation, a non-profit registered Canadian charity operates educational programs and provides information about temperate rainforest conservation.
A network of paths and boardwalks will take you from the Café and Gift shop around the flower, herb and kitchen gardens, the duck pond, and Children's Garden into the forest, where clearings have been transformed into a series of pocket gardens, art installations and garden buildings.
Some of the pocket gardens display plants that once thrived in other coastal temperate rainforests around the world. Garden buildings include the “historic” Bernardo O’Higgins homestead, the storytelling hut made by acclaimed local artist, Jan Janzen and two bird blinds overlooking the Tofino Mudflats Wildlife Management Area. The art installations are all made to survive or weather in the rain, and provide a cultural counterpoint to the surrounding natural beauty.