Street Library in Grande Prairie

04/23/2017 svseekins 7 Comments

Grande Prairie boasts a shiny, new public library but I haven’t noticed it during my visit.

street library, Grande Prairie Alberta — photo by SVSeekins

Instead, it’s this street library that’s charmed me. Within a few blocks of my brother’s home in OBrien Lake neighborhood, is The Book Barn. Like the street libraries I admire so much in Victoria, this one reads:

‘Take a book,
Leave a book’.

Grande Prairie is an industry town surrounded by expansive farmland. Perhaps this library’s host-family grew up on a dairy farm?
Do they miss getting up at the crack of dawn to do chores & milk cows?

Just around the corner & down the street is another gem!

Small town friendliness must be catching. I also figure this has gotta be a kid-oriented neighborhood.

This particular street library has a sign that reads:

LittleFreeLibrary.org

This library trend is so big there’s a website dedicated to it 🙂 It even boasts maps of street libraries all over the world!
Who knew there were so many?
Is your neighborhood represented?

I’m sure this is a sure sign that there’s hope for humanity.

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P.S. check these other street libraries out:

drought tolerant, natives, perrennials

Purple Dead Nettle & Self-heal

03/29/2017 svseekins 5 Comments

It’s no secret that I like wildflowers, so they’re welcome in our garden beds — but occasionally, my affections are tested.

self-heal, Prunella, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Purple Dead Nettle is a pretty flower that runs wild in many gardens. It thrives in moist meadows & dry roadsides alike. It thrives so well that it’s pretty much worn out its welcome in my garden. I weed it out of formal beds and usually remove it from the rockery in favour of the plants I prefer.

selfheal, self-heal, Prunella, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Self Heal looks similar & I often get the two mixed up. They both thrive in the same conditions. Both are pretty but a little ‘over-enthusiastic’ for my liking.

purple dead nettle, red deadnettle, dead-nettle, purple archangel, Lamium purpureum, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

But I feel torn.

Bees & butterflies love the flowers.
Birds eat the seeds.
Deer nibble at the leaves without over-grazing.

Just because they self-sow willy-nilly, should I really be so judgmental?

A neighbour welcomes Dead Nettle into her garden. I can appreciate it there, but I’m not the one working to keep them from out-competing her other plants. Lazy me.

clover, selfheal, purple deadnettle, meadow, self-heal, Prunella, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Self-heal has established itself in C’s lawn. It seems to hold its own beside the grass, clover, wild violets and English daisies. It survives the mower and the foot traffic. I’m rather pleased that C’s monoculture ‘lawn’ is becoming more of a diversified ‘meadow.’ I’m just fine with enjoying the wildflowers in this space, too.

Perhaps this acceptance balances out my barring them from the garden beds & borders?
Is it enough?
Am I redeemed?
Or should I be more open to having these wildflowers in our garden beds?

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Some other plants that might be considered ‘weeds”:

bulbs, months 01-03: winter, perrennials

Winter Magic

02/14/2017 svseekins Leave a comment

Life is magic. Two days after the heavy winter storm, life proves itself.

winter aconite, eranthis in early February garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

And magic begins.

The snow has melted! In just 2 days? Even here on the coast, that seems crazy-fast.

I tentatively wander through the yard assessing the damage.

snowdrops galanthus primula wanda after the big snow garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

My muscles certainly remember shoveling sidewalks & shaking shrubs. But the winter blooms? They’re like children in a hospital ward. Perhaps a little bent & broken, but mostly they’re just happy to be alive and enjoying the sunshine.

snowdrops and primula after the big snow garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

The yellow cups of the winter aconite (Eranthis) don’t seem to have noticed they’ve survived 33 cm of snowfall since they showed themselves in January. (That’s more than 12 inches – a full foot – – radical for balmy Victoria BC!)