It maintains a documented living collection of temperate plants for the purposes of education, research, conservation, community outreach, and public display.

[2] Davidson first established an arboretum, nursery, and botanical garden on the hospital lands of Essondale in Coquitlam with the assistance of the patients.

The government then set aside two acres of land (0.8 ha) at the Provincial Colony Farm in Essondale (later called Riverview) near New Westminster for the establishment of the first botanical garden.

After the closure of the Office of the Provincial Botanist in 1916, the botanical garden relocated to the UBC campus in West Point Grey.

After several years of changing scope and mandate, eventually in 1966 land was set aside near Thunderbird Stadium on the south end of the University campus for a stand-alone botanical garden.

The garden measures approximately 44 hectares (440,000 m2 / 110 acres) and includes a curated collection of 120,000 accessions representing over 6000 taxa with a significant collection of Magnolia, Acer (plant), Sorbus (mountain ash, Styracaceae (storax family), Rhododendron and climbing plants.