Welcome blessed spring – new life and new possibilities! The cherry blossom season is beginning to wind down on the west coast of Canada. The slightest breeze sends a shower of petals swirling through the air. We feel fortunate to have a predominance of ornamental cherry and plum trees in our neighbourhood.
Bells in hues of blue, purple, pink and white, along with the native camas, have created carpets of purple around the city for the last few weeks. Spring is so filled with colour! These photos were all taken in Beacon Hill Park.
Cherry blossom season is just finishing; endless pinks replaced by the bright greens of spring foliage. The blooms were abundant and fragrant, as usual, but before long they had become a carpet of delicate petals and are then gone for another year.
A long stand of trees on Richardson Street in Fairfield held me captive for an intoxicating 20 minutes admiring their beauty.
Downtown Victoria has many varieties of ornamental cherry and plum trees, blooming from mid February through to late April. Those in Chinatown are especially beautiful.
We are having a deliciously warm May in Victoria. Yesterday was a bit cooler, perfect for a cycle. I rode for a few kilometres along our Galloping Goose regional trail to run an errand, and discovered that I almost missed the blooming of the wild roses which line a section of the trail near downtown. I smelled them before I saw them, their intoxicating sweetness calling to all who came near. How remarkable is nature to give us such delights?
I don’t know enough about bees to identify any of these busy ladies. There were so many bees it was almost impossible to take a photo without one. They make me so happy.
I’m planning something big for the autumn and I couldn’t be more excited. This adventure will involve a lot of walking and so much drinking of tea. To prepare I am walking – taking little mini-adventures through the beautiful spring days in Victoria BC.
Back in March I walked about 12 kilometres to Oak Bay and Fairfield. I collected our friend Annie along the way and we made a few stops in Oak Bay before ending up at Abkhazi Garden for tea. We enjoyed a delicious repast in the teahouse, seated in the window overlooking the garden.
The garden was not quite at its peak of colour and vibrancy, but still beautiful. We enjoyed walking along the winding paths and meeting a feline visitor.
Abkhazi Garden is owned and managed by The Land Conservancy (TLC). Read the story of “the garden that love built” here. Check out the teahouse here.
All around, the colours of spring! Flowers of white, cream, yellow, pink and purple.
The season for the Dogwood tree’s showy delight of blossoms is almost over. I found these photos I had taken in Oak Bay about a month ago. The bloom of one variety, the Pacific dogwood, is our province’s official flower. I don’t know what variety I captured below, but it was very spectacular!
Big fat cherry blossoms cover the boulevards like a pink frost; native camas engulf the wild places; rhododendrons and azaleas create walls of beauty – these are more of the colours of a west-coast spring in Victoria BC.
Saw this most amazing vine of wisteria on the fence and gate of one of my favourite houses in the neighbourhood of Fernwood. This variety has the largest and most luscious pendulous racemes I have ever seen. The wisteria was intertwined with lovely pale lavender-coloured lilac and delicate pink clematis. Love.
