Landscaping

Native Plants & Revered Trees

The Arbutus, Dogwood and Garry Oak have protected status on the island. Greater Victoria is the epicenter of the Garry Oak habitat of Canada. There is a mighty Garry Oak behind the house. We took pains to protect it before starting construction. We hope to naturalize the garden around it. Upstairs you can look along the ridge and see the remains of the Garry Oak meadow ecosystem that was tended and protected by the Lekwungen people. Protect what remains of it - learn more in Hakai Magazine.

We’ll add much more on landscaping once the build is complete. This will largely be a project for 2022 and beyond. Til then, may I recommend you watch an eleven minute documentary about the garden and philosophy of Helen Stewart - a revered artist, writer, master gardener & ex-pat American who lives in this vicinity. The film is a reminder of the power of nature for renewal and of gardens as places of creative expression. Helen’s new book “Drawn into the Garden” was given to me by Marion Cumming for Christmas. It is a treasure of a resource to an aspiring Vancouver Island gardener. Helen comes from a long line of artists and horticulturalists. Stewart grew up in Berkeley, CA, her grandfather was manager of Ellwanger & Barry Nursery in Rochester, NY - at the time the most important nursery in North America I have connections to Upstate NY and to Berkeley - specifically to Julia Morgan’s Berkeley Women’s Club so this book is especially meaningful to me.

Arborist Recommendations: Bartlett Tree Service, Capital Tree - We had good experiences with both companies and they get high marks from friends who work at parks and for the city. Bartlett is international, while Capital is owned by a 4th generation Vancouver Islander.

Gardens to Visit for Inspiration": HCP (Horticulture of the Pacific), Abkhazi Garden, Government House, Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay, Takata Garden in Esquimalt, Finnerty Gardens at University of Victoria (spectacular rhododendrons). Consider volunteering in one of these gardens to support their work and to better understand what grows well and you find beautiful here.

Raised Beds and Rainwater Capture

Garden nurseries and seed suppliers report steep upticks in demand in the era of the pandemic. White Flower Farm experienced a 300% rise in orders once Covid hit. While in our rental bungalow we cultivated a score of different vegetables, fruit and herbs and edible flowers in raised beds. Blackberries and figs were already well established and abundant enough to share with friends who didn’t have space to grow their own foods.

Back at Fernwood, we installed a gutter-fed 800 gallon cistern under the porch. It went into action on December 18. Within three days it was overflowing. What’s clear is we better add a second vessel asap. Visit the city of Victoria site to explore Rainwater Rewards.

Victoria has a robust network of Community gardens and school gardens that have been working overtime to supply families with good local provender . Consider making a donation to Fernwood NRG as of this writing (late December) they provide 231 families with 63,745 pounds of produce.

Rewilding and Reducing runoff

Many years ago I went to see Marcus de la Fleur give a presentation transforming suburban lots into tiny nature preserves. Using green roofs, rain barrels, porous pavement, rain gardens, gravel, tall grasses, cisterns and bioswale he vastly reduced run-off and made the yard a haven for wildlife. We will adapt many of de la Fleur’s midwest Prairie solutions to our Northwest coastal climate. The DeLa Fleur Elm Street project near Chicago has had a powerful influence on me and many others. On a trip up island we discovered CORE Landscaping in Courtenay - a gravel mat system that we used to creat a courtyard on which a car can be parked. We love this women-owned company. Their customers have kept 8,403,130 kg of C02 from entering the atmosphere. There’s a cool feature on their site that lets you track your C02 savings. In our case the 250 square foot patch saves 1.2 tons of carbon vs a conventional concrete drive. Rainwater Rewards apply here too.

Brickworks

As of the end of 2018, nearly 20 per cent of the region’s 331 km of waterworks system and 10 per cent of sanitary sewers and stormwater drains were found to be in poor condition. Guess what - many are made of brick. Brick works have been a feature of the island since its settlement by Europeans. Our existing front stair is veneered with bricks made at a Fernwood brickyard back in the day. The son of the manager of the brick yard and Taylor supplemented our own supply (the chimney we took down last fall). Our brick wall and stair masonry was done by Jim Meunier of Sunburst Stone (250-880-0881 or sunburststone@hotmail.com). The Frontera team poured the formwork to accept the brick. Few things we have done to this house have received as much admiration as the brickwork. I’m proud to have mastered the portland cement and lime schmear treatment Jim showed me how to whitewash the brick. See pictures on the blog.

Wildflower Meadow

You should be so lucky… as to have a place like Saanich Native Plants near you. They made us a custom wildflower mix for the front yard. We shall see what thrives when spring rolls around. Here’s what’s in the mix: sea blush, farewell to spring, small flowered blue-eyed Mary, Roemer’s fescue, yarrow, woolly sunflower, field chickweed, nodding onion, goldenrod, and fireweed. A few fistfuls of seed mixed with forty cups of play sand is sufficient to cover 52m2. Text below is excerpted from their site and gives their raison d’être.:

“Native plants in our region are plants that have been here prior to European settlement.  Many of these, particularly those associated with Garry Oak Ecosystems, thrived under management by Indigenous people in the Victoria area for thousands of years. Native plants are an integral part of a healthy natural and cultural environment.

Habitat loss, including invasive species and degradation due to development, has greatly reduced the number of native plants in our region. Planting native species helps to enhance habitat value by restoring plant diversity and abundance, forming corridors and connectivity between habitats, and by attracting and supporting wildlife that has co-evolved with native plant species.  When planted appropriately, native plants can require little maintenance and little to no watering. There is widespread acceptance and recognition among individuals, governments, and organizations that native species are critical to integrating natural values into landscape plans and restoring ecosystems to healthier conditions.  Landowners are increasingly seeking not only to beautify their properties, but are looking towards long-term restoration goals that enhance the ecological value of their properties.”

You will find lots more on landscape and garden on the blog. We hope the garden will grow organically over time. Raised beds are part of the equation out back. Stay tuned. …. Speaking of which ….Elysia Glover took this photo of the wildflower meadow on May 5th,2021. Elysia is the guardian of the garden while we are away. Moira provided the inspiration for the mix. Stacey, Kate Lita, Moira and I prepped the soil and scattered the wildflower seeds last autumn. Architects David and Susan Scott foresaw a wildflower meadow with a magnolia from the get go. For months I peered at the bare patch looking for signs of life. I did not expect much to happen in the first season. Wildflowers, I’ve been told spend the first year establishing deep roots. So you can imagine my excitement when Elysia sent me this photo. Kristen and Andrea atSaanich Native Plants give it the thumbs up too. You might check out the Saanich Native Plants restoration Group/Facebook for inspiration. I also owe thanks to Louise Goulet seer of native plant rescue, and the fearless native plant protectors of Friends of Uplands Park led by Margaret Lidkea - both of whom I know through the indomitable Marion Cumming whose late husband was a botanist. Marion has a beautiful wild garden on Sunny Lane in Oak Bay.

Courtyard or Parking Spot?

We would have preferred no driveway at all - but code required one. We used CORE honeycomb as a porous pavement base (mentioned above) and filled the honeycombs with gravel. The solution is handsome - more like a courtyard than a parking spot and the rainwater runoff is majorly reduced. The water percolates into the soil below instead of running into the storm sewers. Here is a place where rules and regs are at odds with good intentions. The city seeks to reduce car use in favor or walking, biking or the use of public transport - but planning still requires curb cuts in front of every house. Something’s got to give.