Tag Archives: low maintenance

attracting birds, garden visits, months 04-06: spring, natives

Canada’s Dogwood Tree

04/22/2020 svseekins Leave a comment

It’s a tale of 2 trees…

Dogwood Eddie's White Wonder tree in bloom, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

On the very southern coastal region of BC is our native Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii). So admired that it’s honoured as our provincial flower.

Across the continent, Eastern Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) is native to the southernmost tip of Ontario.

Dogwood Eddie's White Wonder tree in bloom, Cornus controversa 'Eddie's White Wonder' Cornus nuttallii 'Eddies White Wonder', garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Both species often suffer from anthracnose fungus that disfigures leaves & causes twig & branch dieback. Ontario’s native dogwood is considered ‘at risk.’

The answer? A genuinely Canadian fix: combine them.

Enter H.M. Eddie (Henry Matheson Eddie). A nurseryman in BC’s Fraser Valley who got a kick out of creating new varieties of any number of plants. His 1945 success, ‘Eddie’s White Wonder,’ is the combo of the Pacific & the Eastern dogwoods.

Eddie’s dogwood is pretty much disease-free! Beyond that,

pollinators love the spring flowers.
Birds gorge on the berry clusters.
Deer leave the tree alone (except the occasional buck needing to scratch his antlers – so trunk protection is needed.)
And fall leaf colour is another spectacle.

photo by SVSeekins

It’s been such a triumphant landscape success that Eddie’s White Wonder was honoured as Vancouver’s Centennial tree ...
and as one of my favourite trees to find blooming during our morning walks each April 🙂

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bulbs, garden visits, months 01-03: winter

Summit Park Crocus Meadow

02/29/2020 svseekins 12 Comments

Time & patience make a beautiful combination.

Well over a century ago, someone planted crocus in a garden at Hillside Farm. In the late 1880’s much of the farm became a subdivision. Then, 90 years after that, the original home site became Summit Park. Even though the gardens are no longer there, the crocuses are. They’ve survived & naturalized in the Garry Oak meadow.

snow crocus, woodland crocus, early crocus, summit park, crocus, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Pacific Northwestsummit park, crocus, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Seeing the tiny blooms peeking out of the grass as the sun shines down on them delights me. Crocus isn’t as showy as the native fawn lily & camas that bloom here in April & May, but their energy is exuberant. In February, I need this excitement.

summit park, crocus, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Snow Crocus (Crocus tommasinianus) is reputed as the best of the 90 Crocus species for naturalizing. A decade ago, I planted bags & bags of mixed snow crocus in a patch of lawn outside our home. It’s doing okay but not up to Summit Park’s showing. I wonder if the Hillside homesteader had access to bags of bulbs way back then… Perhaps, s/he ordered catalogue seed?

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Here are some other meadows:

attracting birds, boulevard garden, bulbs, drought tolerant, garden visits, gardens with wildlife, months 01-03: winter, months 04-06: spring, months 07-09: summer, months 10-12: fall, urban deer

Fernwood Snowdrop Meadow

02/18/2020 svseekins 6 Comments

How often do you stop mid-errand to admire a roadside garden? I did just that the other day.

galanthus, snowdrops, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Cycling along Haultain in Fernwood, on the way to downtown Victoria, I’m caught off guard by a snowdrop meadow. I pull over & take a closer look.

The meadow runs the whole outside length of the fenceline. AND as it is a corner lot, so it runs along Forbes street, too! There was even a mini meadow on the wee boulevard right at the crosswalk. 🙂

The patches of snowdrops are interspersed with patches of daffodils. This winter meadow will morph into an early-spring meadow in another few weeks.

On closer inspection, I recognize Calendula (Pot Marigold), too. Even with our summer droughts, they’ll flower all summer & well into the fall!

All three are deer resistant.

The calendula will self-seed a crop for next year as well as feed the birds.

These folks put care & attention into the city boulevard beside their property. (Can you see him painting his fence in the distance?)

In my mind, this meadow has so much more going for it than the regular grass lawn. I’ll bet the bees & other beneficial insects like it a whole lot more, too.

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other snowdrop patches I admire: