Tag Archives: BC

boulevard garden, bulbs, months 01-03: winter, perrennials

Winter Aconite Meadow

02/26/2023 svseekins 9 Comments

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:

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?

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.

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

Meadow Blooms – A Grazed Meadow

public art

Changing the Message – Willows Beach Portal

05/14/2022 svseekins 3 Comments

Does Public Art have to be static & unchanging? Sometimes it can transition & morph into something more.

Portal, Public Art, Willows Beach, Oak Bay, Victoria, Heather Passmore — photo by SVSeekins

Portal, a sculpture along Willows Beach Esplanade, was initially installed as a large open ring framing the horizon like a portal on a ship. The reclaimed rope reminds me of so much flotsam lost at sea. Used as seating to perch on & grasping the rope frame for balance changes the artwork from a view to an experience. Not just a piece to look at— this art is a sculpture to view the world from.
I like the artist’s multi-dimensional messages.

Two years after the art installation, the open ring has morphed into a dream catcher. I reckon it still frames the view but now the message says so much more to me. The piece is still beautiful to look at & to view the world through but it has added layers…
It catches the sunrise, protecting us all from bad dreams. (We certainly need some of that with the exposure of residential school nightmares swirling around us!)

I like this, too, and wonder,
“Was the original artist expanding on her idea?”
Apparently not. Oak Bay Parks says they don’t know who in our community added to the Portal, but it wasn’t the artist.

Another year on, baby dream catchers are appearing on the web.
Intriguing…
Who adds these?
Has the public taken to the Portal as our own public art gallery?

Perhaps it’s truly become a piece of Community Art that we contribute to ourselves! A message of public support & healing…

Now, this raises more questions:
Who controls Public Art? The artist? The city? The public?
Are these changes vandalism?
art appropriation?
— or a greater form of art?

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gardens with wildlife, months 04-06: spring, months 07-09: summer, perrennials

Wall Lettuce (Mycelis muralis)

08/01/2021 svseekins 5 Comments

Wall Lettuce, weed, Mycelis muralis, Lactuca muralis, Prenanthes muralis, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

The rosette of jagged leaves hints that this plant is probably related to the common dandelion, but I didn’t know for sure…
so I left it growing.

After a bit of time, a tall stem rises from the centre & produces a mist of tiny yellow flowers that are more like a daisy than a dandelion.
Hmmm.
Weed?
Not a weed?

I kinda like the cloud of yellow daisy flowers ‘floating” 3 feet above the ground.
But they don’t last long…
then they’re just messy looking.

And I’m not keen on the foliage.

Overall, Wall lettuce is not all that decorative…

Wall Lettuce, Mycelis muralis, Lactuca muralis, Prenanthes muralis, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Mycelis muralis is native to Turkey & other European areas. Wildlife in the Mediterranean evolved using this plant.
Not so in North America. Wall lettuce is still new to the wildlife here. If I want more beneficials & pollinators in our garden I’d be further ahead adding more native plants that the wildlife enjoy & depends on.

So, in our garden, wall lettuce is a weed.
Decision made.

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Other plants that might be considered ‘weeds’: