Category Archives: garden visits

exploring other gardens

Family Bike Ride

04/25/2013 svseekins 3 Comments

Earth Day is a pretty good excuse to tune up the bike.

For the past couple of years Saanich hosted a Cycling Festival. My favourite part of it is the BIG Family Bike Ride.

With the city on board, the police close off some streets & let the cyclists take over. Mayhem 🙂

In truth it’s not craziness & it’s not a total closure. They call it a ‘rolling closure’.

Cyclists get 1 or 2 full lanes, just for the length of time it takes us to get through each section of town. It feels pretty good.

It’s kinda like when the Queen comes to town. There are Police Motorcycles up front…
and just behind that is her cavalcade (only this time it’s US)…
and then it’s wrapped up with more Police & Emergency Vehicles at the very back.

Oh yeah, and we can’t forget the hoards of cheering fans. No seriously, there were folks cheering from the side-walks & everything! Not a lot.

Okay: SOME PEOPLE were on the side-walks.

They were cheering.

I liked it.

I also really liked cycling down the Shelbourne & McKenzie thoroughfares without worrying about being side-swiped by that motorist who doesn’t realize his passenger-side-mirror really does stick out further than he thinks it does….

Since I’ve been an active commuter cyclist for a couple of decades, I figure I have nerves of steel. So it was interesting for me to notice I revelled in the feeling of safety.

I’d though cycling in a big group might have some tension of its own. Like in a peloton… Local boy Ryder Hesjedal, has REAL nerves of steel – – enough for cycling in one of those crazy-close-packs of racing cyclists …. have you ever seen one of those crashes?

Well, I didn’t see anything like that on the Family Bike Ride. It was pretty laid back.

The choice & variety of bikes was incredible. Road bikes, mountain bikes, recumbents….
Bicycles with baby seats… with trailers…
Bicycles built for two… or more….
I even saw a little kid with a wooden bike. How cool is that?

After a turn out like this I can understand why we’re called the Cycling Capital of Canada.

Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition – more people cycling, more places, more often
Cycle Touring in Saanich – Maps & route descriptions
Bike to Work Week Challenge – in Victoria, late May
Victoria International Cycling Festival – early June
Tour de Victoria – September

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© SVSeekins and Garden Variety Life, 2013

bulbs, drought tolerant, garden visits, months 04-06: spring, natives

Meadow Blooms 4 – Fawn Lily

04/09/2013 svseekins 10 Comments

How could I have missed this? For years I lived right across from Beacon Hill Park! I celebrated their fabulous meadows every spring. Daffodils & tulips in March & April; later, the camas meadows in May…. But somehow, this Fawn Lily meadow had eluded me – until now!

Fawn Lily meadow at Beacon Hill Park — photo by SVSeekins

I first became aware of native fawn lilies when a naturalist pointed them out during a spring wildflower walk around Elk Lake. The fawn lilies grow along the forest edges of the walking paths there. I was particularly charmed by the leaf pattern: dappled spots just like the back of a fawn. (Aw… Bambi flowers…)

Fawn Lily bloom & leaf CU — photo by SVSeekins

Since then, I’ve also noticed fawn lilies along the trail around Cedar Hill Golf Course. Later, I was delighted to discover them growing wild in the backyard at the Cedar Hill Road house.

Of course, when we planned our move to the Richmond house, it was IMPORTANT to bring some of those fawn lilies with me to the next yard.

They had such long taps (6 inches or more) that led down to thin, elongated bulbs. They were really tricky. Most broke off & stayed rooted where they grew, but I did get a few.

Only a couple survived the transplant trauma. The 2 successful specimens are in the border near the driveway. For the first 3 years, they just produced leaves. Last year one bloomed! I’m coddling them (go figure).

3 x fawn lily at Beacon Hill Park — photo by SVSeekins

I’ve also been buying seeds from the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary & scattering those willy-nilly. So far, no luck, but I have dreams.

One gardener from the Native Plant Study Group tells me that she seeds them into trays & lets them sit outside for a couple of years. That way, they’re easier to identify when they come up, & she doesn’t weed out the tiny babies by mistake. She’ll eventually be able to move them into her beds to naturalize.

I might just have to do that myself – – if I can muster the patience. I have lots of dreams but little patience. 🙂

P.S. Here are some other meadow faves: