The Devonian Botanic Garden is Canada's most northerly botanical garden. It was established in 1959 by the University of Alberta, and is located near the town of Devon, Alberta. The gardens extend over 30 hectares (80 acres) of 12,000 year old sand dune shoreline of pre-glacial Lake Edmonton, and include an additional 40 hA (110 acres) of natural areas. In 1976 a further 40 hA were added and the name was changed to the Devonian Botanic Garden. It contains a diverse variety of plants and fungi, with emphasis on alpine and cold-hardy plants, but featuring such attractions as an authentic Japanese garden. Because of its connection to the University of Alberta, extensive research is carried out by the centres staff in areas including wetland ecology, biology of microfungi, horticulture, and phenology.
The Garden offers several display features: an alpine garden, an herb garden, a peony collection, a primula dell, an iris dell, a collection of Alberta plants, and a Native People's garden. The Garden is open from May through November.
The Friends of the Devonian Botanic Garden was founded in 1971 as a fundraising group to support the aims and objectives of the garden. Because of its affiliation with the University it has an extensive herbarium and maintains a Members Seed List. It also produces various horticulturally related publications.
In conjunction with an enhanced MOU signed between the Aga Khan University and the University of Alberta in 2009, the University of Alberta has requested His Highness the Aga Khan to develop of an Islamic Garden within the grounds of the Devonian Botanic Garden. This request has been accepted and preliminary work has begun.