Spending part of my youth in the West Kootenays I always looked forward to seeing the mixed deciduous/coniferous forest floor covered in blooms of white Western Trillium's (Trillium ovatum) in April. For nearly 30 years now looking around the Bella Coola Valley in almost identical habitat, with a very similar climate (maybe a tad wetter) I've never found any. The bible on coastal plants - Plants of Coastal British Columbia, by Pojar & MacKinnon shows their coastal range well south of the north end of the Vancouver Island. I gave up looking for them finally. About 15 years ago a friend with a nursery for native BC plants on Vancouver Island offered me a plant, which I placed in a rich site of mixed coniferous/deciduous forest. For those 15 plus years it hasn't disappointed us, flowering every year within a week of the middle of April and adding one or two flowers a year. It's a a large clump now, but hasn't made one shred of attempt to spread by rhizomes or seed - truly a plant that doesn't seem meant to be here, but thrives in its own little spot. We enjoy it immensely every year. Grizzly
Mushroom in a tutu
1 day ago
Beautiful flower - have never seen one. This is probably what they named the camp trailer after, eh?
ReplyDeleteI too have these in my garden, they came from my uncle in Burnaby who used to get permission to rescue them instead of being destroyed by developments and construction.
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