May 2024
It's a busy
month
Claira and I went to VanDusen to see one of the local botanical
club shows. This club showed (and sold bonzai trees - one of
Clairas favorite kinds of plants. They have a show with
awards, and a bunch of tables with small plants for sale.
Claira wanted to get a plant for her sister and she found an
Azalea she really liked.
We have a small grow light at home. I used a left over
aquarium pump to water the plants every morning. We'll see
how long we can keep this plant alive!
Walk at Camosun Bog
I'm finding more and more weekends where
both kids are busy for both days. My job is often just
driving the kids to activities or get supplies for their
projects. I happened to have a few hours off, but no kids so
I drove over to Camosun bog for a brief walk. The Bog Laurel
was in full bloom.
If you walk out the bog, you get into Pacific Sprirt Park which
has great infrastructure like this stairway and boardwalk. I
sometimes snicker when there is more wood in the trail than there
is the surrounding forest.
Afternoon at Lorcano Beach
Sometimes we get a run of warm days that
reminds us summer is just around the corner. Claira had an
afternoon off so we contacted some friends and booked some time at
the beach. We were lucky to get a low tide which is good for
warm water on the sandy beach. As the kids got out into the
water, it went from reasonably warm to very cold in only a few
steps. The sand out here is quite muddy so the kids started
to sink if they didn't keep moving.
The kids spent most of their time in the sand, burying each other.
Weekend in Victoria
Last year we didn't have a May Long Weekend
- Nara flew away to Science Fair and Claira had camping with the
girl guides. This year, Nara had science fair, but a week
later and and Claira passed on camp (she had a lack of sleep last
year). This Year we went to Victoria to visit my parents and
take it easy.
Mount Douglas
I have a soft spot for Garry Oak meadows and
the flowers that bloom with them. We often go up in the
afternoon and see the peak, but this time I wanted to go up the
back side and see one of the more minor peaks. There are
parking lots off of Blenkinsop Road and I was early enough that
there were plenty of spots free.
It's somewhat late spring so the Lilies and shooting stars are
gone, but the later flowers like Camas are doing really
well. The hike up brings you through lots of small niches -
flatter meadows, exposed rocks are protected valleys. Each
has their own set of plants.
Eventually you get to just exposed rock and a dryer kind of plant
life is common. The Sorrel will grow in just a crack with
full sunlight, as will the the Common Wolly Sunflower.
As you get to each peak, there are small dishes of soil.
Both minor peaks had Arbutus trees trying to hang on.
Arbutus is funny - it needs hot summer months without water - too
much water and they die - giving up their space to wetter trees.
Uplands Park
I have visited Uplands Park lots of times in
spring -
April 2015,
April
2019,
April 2023 because of early meadow
flowers. I had some times (I dropped the girls off at the
mall) so I decided to go for a walk.
If I'm honest, I chase a number of things. I chase new dots
on the map - I keep track of where I have taken photos and I like
to go to places I haven't been before so I don't live in a smaller
and smaller world of just my "golden oldies". Second, I
chase new species. I keep track of how many "new to me"
species I see in a year and it gives me a reason to keep looking
for new things.
Looking in new places for new things has added side benefits - you
get a better sense of just how rare things are and you can
appreciate them that much more.
The Garry oak Meadow at Uplands park is
something special and you can really see it under attack from
invasive species. Previously I noticed the english ivy
choking out the under story. This time, I noticed some of
the trees were completely stripped - but I couldn't see what had
eaten the leaves. The Chipping Sparrows on the other hand
had no trouble seeing the caterpillars - they flirted from tree to
tree usually with a mouth full of food. I'm hoping more
insect predators can help the trees.
Francis King Regional Park
This walk was a new point on the map.
The sign pointing out the turn off to park is on a common through
road and I've always wonder what is down that way, but never had
the time to go look. Today I went to look. The
Elsie King Trail is a wheel chair accessible trail that forms a
short look through the Douglas Fir Forest. I didn't have a
lot of time (I had to be back before waffles were served) so I did
the short loop.
The Douglas first here aren't old growth, but they really do block
out most of the light. There is a Heritage Grove of old
growth trees quite close to this trail, but I didn't have time to
go check that out.
I do enjoy the small details so I was quite happy with the large
stones near the trail that provided a lifted view of what grows on
the ground.
Speaking of things that I once thought were rare, but are actually
pretty common - I spotted a single Fairy Slipper Orchid growing
out of the needle litter on the ground. These are very
delicate small flowers, so I was happy to take a photo.
The kids have stuff to do, but after dinner we went for a
brief walk around Outerbridge Park. The kids also climbed the
tree in the back yard.
Bonsai Maintenance
Claira's Bonsai was flowering when she got
it and we wanted to trim off an extra branch. The flowers
were mostly done so we took the tree and started snipping off the
buds.
Tags: Mount Douglas(8), flower(4), tree(3), gulf island(3), Uplands Park(2), Camosun Bog(2)
People: Claira(3), Nara(2), Helen(1), Lloyd(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > May 2024
Last Modified Sunday, June 23rd, 2024 at 22:09:37 Edit
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