Gardens near Powell River Lawn Bowling Club receive upgrade

Triangle Gardens begins in front of the Patricia Theatre along Marine Avenue and spans 1,000 feet toward Powell River Lawn Bowling Club. Both the garden and the lawn bowling club were started and owned by the Powell River Company (original mill site).

Located at the entrance way to Historic Townsite and once a nursery for the mill, the garden became overgrown with broom and blackberry bushes in the 1990s. However, that all changed once Dr. Andy Davis, also known as “Dr. Dirt,” took over as caretaker after his retirement. Along with many Townsite neighbours, he started to cultivate and plant flowers in order to make the space an inviting place for people to visit again.

“His passion for gardening emerged,” said Will Van Delft, president of the Townsite Ratepayers Association.

Davis left a beautiful legacy that is Triangle Gardens, after his unfortunate passing last April, he added. 

Residents of Townsite have a lot of pride in the heritage status of the close-knit neighbourhood, and they look after it well, according to Van Delft, who rallied community members together to support building and planning a new path along the garden, which now makes it more accessible for pedestrians.

Former Powell River mayor and coroner Stewart Alsgard was a good friend and sometimes collègue of Davis.

“He [Davis] came to Powell River as a medical internist and eventually became chief-of-staff at hospital number four,” said Alsgard.

The first hospital built was in Townsite, long before the current facility in Westview.

“I was the provincial coroner at the time and on occasion we had dealings with each other,” he added.

Alsgard relayed how much Davis loved Townsite and at that time [1990s] “Townsite was getting a new lease on life.”

Fast forward 25 years and Triangle Gardens is overflowing with purple heather, rhododendrons and azaleas. Along with horticulture plants, there is also a towering arbutus and a 100-year-old Garry oak tree, planted by Powell River Company gardeners. Alsgard mentioned that the Garry oak was transported here by ship in 1912.

Van Delft and many others brainstormed with each other about how they could honour Davis. The idea of constructing a path to connect the neighbourhood to the garden grew into a reality pretty quickly, and it wasn’t hard to convince volunteers to pitch in.

Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society (now known as qPAWS) members were enthusiastic and broke ground for the path just a few weeks ago.

“[qPAWS] just carried on from Davis’ original trail,” said Van Delft.

Although City of Powell River technically owns the property, Townsite Heritage Society is in charge of managing the space.

“We asked the [city] council to see if they could donate a bench,” said Van Delft. “Springtime Garden Centre donated a Korean dogwood.”

Alsgard was mayor in Powell River for 12 years. Davis would regularly visit city hall along with delegations asking for help to get the historic neighbourhood designated a heritage site. In 1995, Townsite became the first and only National Historic District of Canada in Western Canada.

“As mayor I recognized the importance of the neighbourhood to be recognized as historic,” said Alsgard.

The former mayor holds a vault of knowledge when it comes to the history of the area and in the past (possibly continuing upon request), he gave walking tours to tourists and anyone who was curious. Now instead of admiring the garden from the sidewalk, the public can walk through and take in the beauty and hard work Davis, and many others, put into creating a place of peace and beauty, not only for Townsite residents, but for anyone who chooses to visit