George Bror Boving

George Bror Boving was born in Båstad in the province of Skåne, Sweden in 1889 the youngest of ten
children.
George came to Canada in 1911 at an older brother’s recommendation, to study at McGill University
McDonald College in Montreal. His degree was in agronomy and horticulture. His passion was Botany.
During the summer holidays while at university he worked in farming and logging on the rivers in
Quebec.
Upon graduation in May 1916, he joined the seventh McGill Siege Battery, made up of his graduating
class, and sailed from Halifax to England ending up at Aldershot for further training.
He was eventually sent to France where he was a gunner at the battle of the Somme.
Through his brother ,who lived in England ,he met and married his french wife Suzanne Mascot in
1917.
Their oldest child , a girl, was born and in 1919 after his discharge from the army and surviving the
Spanish flu pandemic the family sailed to Canada at the invitation of older brother Paul Axel Boving
who was by then the head of the faculty of Agriculture at UBC.
George went to work in Summerland,BC in soil remediation at the research station of the faculty of
agriculture teaching farmers how to get their land going again when they returned from the war. The
family lived in West Point Grey in Vancouver.
In 1919 George and Suzanne bought a house om West 4th ave in Vancouver and George began to create
a beautiful garden. He collected alpine plants by exploration in Canada and the US Pacific Northwest
and by seed from all over the world.
At the beginning of the Depression George’s job was cut and he had to interrupt his studies for his
masters at the University of Washington permanently. He became a founder of the UBC Botanical
Garden when it was located at 16th and Blanca and worked on the research farm at UBC. He was head
gardener at the Botanical Garden Ponderosa location until his retirement.
George was also one of the founders of the Alpine Garden Club of BC and spent extensive time hiking
and exploring the alpine areas of BC and the NW US.
George and Suzanne also acquired a cabin at Selma Park on the Sunshine coast where the family, now
including three children, spent their summer holidays. George created another beautiful garden there.
George worked during the week in Vancouver and came up on the “Daddy Boat” on Friday nights.
George was the baker within the house and especially at Christmas when the advent candles came out
and he would make cookies and Swedish festive foods. There were Swedish songs and traditions
observed.
Until his death George worked for several homeowners as a private gardener on SW Marine drive,
notably Mr Murrin of BC Hydro.
Gearge Boving died in Vancouver in 1961.