Cook Responsible for Beauteous Vancouver Garden

New Zealand-born Alleyne Cook has devoted 23 years of his life to planting and maintaining Vancouver’s Ted and Mary Greig Garden within Stanley Garden which contains an extraordinary botanical inventory of more than 4500 plants, including many world-class rhododendrons, dozens of specialty trees and an exceptional azalea walk, Vancouver Sun garden writer Steve Whysall explains.

“Cook is responsible for most of the top-notch botanical content. For instance, it was Cook – ‘Cookie’ to his friends – who persuaded Dr. Harold Fletch, then regius keeper of Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden, to send him thousands of primula seeds, which were quickly germinated and the seedlings scattered generously throughout the garden.

“Cook’s specialty, however, was and is and always has been, rhododendrons. His expertise on the subject is well-known to local garden groups and widely valued. He has been awarded the gold medal by the American Rhododendron Society for his years of work with and promotion of rhododendrons.”