Tag Archives: Vancouver

Mostly Edibles in the UBC Botanical Garden, Vancouver

On 4th April 2017 I visited the University of British Columbia botanical garden in Vancouver, Canada. It was more dfficult to find by public transport as I had imagined and smaller, but nevertheless an interesting garden with, in particular, a good collection of Asiatic plants. I’ve known of this garden for many years as I was a member of their garden forums, one of the most active on the net before Facebook: http://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca
Here’s an album of pictures I took, mostly, but not all, edible plants…and there’s not many gardens you can find breeding eagles!

Edimentals in Stanley Park, Vancouver

I took the ferry across from Vancouver Island to  the city of Vancouver. I’ve already posted a lot of pictures of the birds of fabulous Stanley Park, a green lung right in the centre of the city  (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=10476). Here’s a few pictures of emerging edimentals I spotted in the park during my visit on 4th April 2017.

Birds and mammals of BC

A highlight of my visit to British Columbia (apart from the plants) was to experience springtime birds in a different part of the world, and most species I hadn’t seen before. There are two albums below plus some videos showing a selection of pictures taken with my handheld Panasonic DNC-TZ80 which has an amazing zoom…
Many of the pictures in the first album from Victoria  are taken from my fantastic Airbnb room which overlooked the harbour!
See further down for an album from Vancouver (mainly in the fabulous Stanley Park).
At the bottom are several videos for your entertainment including Pileated woodpecker, Rufous-sided towhee, two squirrel species, bald eagles, American wigeon, Great blue heron, Northwestern crow, American robin, White-crowned sparrow, Red-winged blackbird, Northern flicker  and American goldfinch

Having a day and a half free in Vancouver before travelling to Quebec, I was keen to visit Stanley Park again! I first visited this remnant old growth forest right next to downtown Vancouver back in the late 80s and was so impressed that they had deliberately left dead trees standing and trees where they had fallen…this is what makes this place so special and rich in wildlife as these pictures taken in a 3 hour walk in the park show. I’ve also included some pictures taken in the UBC Botanical Garden (amazing to look up and see a pair of bald eagles sitting atop a tree in the middle of the garden) and also the Van Dusen botanical garden, both of which I visited on one day!

..and now some videos.
First, a drumming Northern flicker:

A downy/hairy woodpecker at Beacon Hill, Victoria

Pileated woodpecker in Stanley Park:

American wigeon, Vancouver:

Rufous-sided towhee in the UBC garden:

Hermit thrush? in Stanley Park:

Melanistic form of the Eastern Gray squirrel (introduced):

American wigeon at Beacon Hill, Victoria:

Hunting Great Blue Heron in Stanley Park:

Northwestern crow gathering nesting material:

American robin:

White-crowned sparrow on cattail seed (Typha):

The catttail beds and vegetation around were teeming with birds:

American goldfinch singing:

 

Mini tour of Canada

Thanks to my long-term “virtual” friend, vegetable and fertilizer innovator extraodinaire Michel Lachaume, I have been invited by well-known Québécois farmer and author Jean-Martin Fortier to hold a seminar at the farm he manages in Hemmingford, Quebec: permaculture-inspired  la Ferme des Quatres-temps for leading chefs in the area! This will probably be on 11th April!

You can read more about Jean-Martin here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Martin_Fortier

I’m going to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to do a little mini-tour of Canada, do a bit of teaching, learning and experience early spring edibles in another part of the world in nature and gardens! Here’s my rough tentative itinerary
Arrive Vancouver 28th March
29th March – 4th April: Salt Spring Island – Victoria –  Vancouver
(5th – 6th April) Halifax, NS (uncertain)
7th – 12th (Montreal – Quebec – Ottawa area) with 11th at the farm!
13th Toronto (Botanical garden?)
13th Evening flight back to Norway!