Author: Vancouver

I study trees, dendrology, as a tree enthusiast. I am particularly interested in the features of different tree species and how helpful these features are for identifying one tree species from another. So, when I went to France for the first half of September to be with beloved family, I could not drop my fascination…

Most trees have blossomed by now, though a handful more blossom each month, mostly because they are ornamentals and come from somewhere else. And some shrubs are still in bloom. Mostly though, I was looking at herbaceous plants growing from tubers, bulb-like corms, and perennial roots; some are considered noxious invasive plants, according to the…

As a Vancouver Park Board gardener shared with me the other day, all plants are now showing some form of stress because of the ongoing heat, relentless sunshine, and drought. “I’m tired of only watering,” he said. Plants have various ways of protecting themselves from relentless sun: having leaves with waxy surfaces; closing their leaf…

Roses, roses everywhere, but ne’er a scent of fragrance. How did it happen that roses have become more and more beautiful while all the while becoming less and less fragrant? Perhaps we have to go back to the heirloom varieties. Everywhere, roses are blooming and climbing—tea roses, floribunda roses, prickly roses such as Rosa rogusa,…

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills When all at once I saw a crowd. A host, of golden daffodils There I was, walking the seawall when, like so many other Vancouverites and visitors to this great city, I stopped in awe, as William Wordsworth did, to gaze…