After a hearty meal of ham & scalloped potatoes, I’m in need of some exercise & fresh air. We head off to one of our favorite walks: the forested loop  around Mount Doug Park.

It’s a delight, but not a surprise,  to come across the speckled leaves of a fawn lily at the edge of the path.  (I’ve seen these native wildflowers along the forest edge of walking trails at Cedar Hill Golf Course too, )  But then  I spy another leaf further off the trail… and a few more!

Just beyond those is a meadow of them!  I wouldn’t have guessed that the deciduous under-story would give enough light for a whole meadow of fawn lily.

The  White Fawn Lily meadow at the north end of Beacon Hill Park is much more open than this.

Today there’s just a few flowers in bloom, but give it another week….

Last year Easter was well over a week later.  By then the Fawn Lilies at Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary were in their glory.

Now it makes sense why some folk call these Easter Lily.

In Ontario the speckled leaves remind folk of brook trout, so they call them Trout Lily.   Perhaps Eastern Canadians don’t see deer as often as we do in Victoria?  A rose by any other name….

If we want to get scientific about names, the west coast native is Erythronium Oregonum, and its east coast cousin is E. Americanum.

No matter the moniker used, it’s lovely to see the early spring wildflowers.  Happy Easter!

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