Winter Aconite Meadow

It’s early February & skies are overcast on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The temperature is mild: frosting overnight but about 8 celsius in the afternoon.
The garden is asleep…
Mostly.

eranthis, winter aconite, galanthus, snowdrops, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest
photo by SVSeekins

A friendly gardener has a happy display of snowdrops and winter aconite along her front border. It cheers up the neighbourhood.

I have to stop to take it in:

eranthis, winter aconite, galanthus, snowdrops, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest
photo by SVSeekins

The sunshine radiates from the small yellow flowers, warming the snowdrops in their glow.

How many years have these corms & bulbs been naturalizing in this bed?

eranthis, winter aconite, galanthus, snowdrops, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest
photo by SVSeekins

How far will they travel when left on their own? There are plenty of babies escaping into the edge of the lawn. I reckon a meadow is preferable to a golf green lawn anyway.

eranthis, winter aconite, galanthus, snowdrops, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest
photo by SVSeekins

Thank you & hats off to the green thumb that put this all in motion.

It’ll be fun to watch it progress through the winter & into spring.
🙂

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P.S. Here are some other meadow faves:
January

February

March

April

May

July

Winter Wet

The sound of the early traffic splashing along a wet road woke me. Now, looking through the kitchen window, I wonder if it’s still raining. I gaze out at the white sky, unsure if I need an umbrella for our morning walk.

Then I notice the base of our apple tree.

winter wet - gravenstein apple tree, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest
photo by SVSeekins

Because the creeping buttercup in our lawn is determined to invade this little bed of Primula Wanda, I keep a sharp edging along its border. Today it looks less like a wee ditch & more like a moat.

winter wet, primula wanda, cyclamen coum, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest
photo by SVSeekins

The moat is brimming. Last night’s deluge has filled the water table & it’s saturated right up to the surface. Roots must be swimming in wet! Are the worms drowning?

The Royal Horticultural Society says these primulas prefer moist but well-drained conditions. Fortunately, we live on a slope & the excess moisture in the soil will slowly drain away as the rain eases.

winter wet, primula wanda, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest
photo by SVSeekins

But this winter flooding is what makes conditions on the southern tip of Vancouver Island so different from most. We have a
Winter Wet & Summer Dry climate.

Of our 35 inches of annual rainfall, only 5 inches arrive in our prime growing season (May through September — 5 inches in 5 months!).
We get more than that in November alone (6 inches).
Our summers are dry & our winters are wet.
Very wet.

Who else gets the bulk of their moisture in winter?

  • The Mediterranean basin
  • Central Chile
  • The western cape of South Africa
  • Micro-climates on the southern edge of Australia

It makes sense that the Cyclamen & Tulips from the Mediterranean do well here. Likewise for Australia’s grevillea & Chile’s Monkey Puzzle trees, and my favourite South African import: Red Hot Pokers.

I don my rain gear & head outside. Who would have thought we’re so different from the Marine West Coast Climate of the rest of our Pacific Northwest? No worries, I can appreciate our own little niche in the world.

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