By Julie Tereshchuk

Don't think that world-famous 1000-acre Stanley Park is the only outdoor space worth a visit during your trip to Vancouver.

Even non-gardeners will relish two smaller open-air gems - the Japanese Nitobe Memorial Garden and the Botanical Garden at University of British Columbia (UBC). They are close neighbors on UBC's scenic campus, atop the cliffs above the Georgia Strait, about 30 minutes from the heart of downtown. Watch for picture-perfect views over English Bay, and the peaks of Vancouver's back-yard mountains, through the tall trees lining broad campus driveways.

The Nitobe Memorial garden, created to honor the spirit of Japanese scholar and writer, Dr. Inazo Nitobe, and tucked away beside the Asian Centre, is an authentic Shinto stroll garden complete with teahouse (open 1 weekend a month) and inner Zen garden. The area is designed to create a sense of harmony with nature and one's fellow creatures, and undoubtedly achieves its purpose.

The charming black and white illustrations of the informative self-guided tour map and the simplicity of the setting belie the garden's rigorous planning. Nothing is left to chance - from the symmetry of the traditional 77 log bridge as it reflects in the carp-filled lake, to the vigilance of the elderly Japanese groundskeeper, pouncing silently on a single errant leaf seconds after it floated onto the pristine path.

From the Nitobe, head to UBC's Botanical Garden, a short drive east along SW Marine Drive. Parts of the Botanical Garden are cultivated and formal, while others are left to grow wild. The 70 acres is a true botanical garden, designed primarily for education and research, and includes a British Columbia Native Garden, a Food Garden, an Asian Garden and a Physick Garden - growing traditional medicinal plants. Take your time - there is much to see. For the inquisitive, each plant is labeled; however if you still have questions, don't be shy about asking the well-informed gardeners working industriously throughout the grounds. Equally helpful staff run the large gift shop which sells everything from cards and the inevitable t-shirts, to seeds, planters and weighty almanacs.

The Botanical Garden has a large, free parking lot however parking can be tight near the Nitobe, so consider starting at the close-by Museum of Anthropology - also worth a visit, but that's another story.

If you go:
Nitobe Memorial Garden, Gate 4, N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver B.C. V6T 1Z2
Gatehouse (604) 822-6038) www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/nitobe/

UBC Botanical Garden, 6804 S.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver B.C. V6T 1Z4
(604) 822-9666 for general information, off-season hours and admission charges
Open: 10-6 daily (shorter hours during winter months)