Although there's a movement towards planting native species in gardens, we do tend to love exotic vegetation. There'd not be much of festival during the spring without all the beautiful cherry trees. Word has it, 80 years ago, Japanese mayors of Kobe and Yokohama gave the park board 500 Japanese cherry trees. They were for planting at the Japanese cenotaph in Stanley Park honouring Japanese Canadians who served in WWI. They do well here. Residents sort of fell in love with them.
Some people try to push visiting flora to the extreme though. This afternoon, I walked uptown through the lovely neighbourhoods near Queen's Park in New Westminster. Many folks take a lot of pride in how their property looks and there are serious examples of awesome landscaping.
I am sure that palms and banana trees are not endemic to this region though.
