Plan B

We finally met with the fellow from Saanich Parks today and he turned out to be a really nice guy. He tells me he was off with a cold at the beginning of the week so wasn't able to respond to telephone messages. I felt kind of bad for a few minutes, thinking that I was crabby about not hearing from him--until I remembered that I'd been trying for the two previous weeks to arrange a meeting.

Anyway, he was pleasant and helpful--so I was able to adjust to the bad news that we will not be allowed to plant large shrubs on the boulevard on the road side of our proposed new driveway. Because we are on a corner we cannot impede sight lines for drivers pulling out onto the road.

What this means is that there's not too much point in changing the driveway, since one of the main purposes was to put plantings there to screen our view of the road (seen here).



So we're now looking at a Plan B--which will be to design plantings on our own property to screen us from the road as much as possible.

The good news is that we won't have to spend between six and eight thousand dollars to redo the driveway. Harry's right when he says, "You can buy a lot of trees and shrubs for $8000."

At this point I'm just relieved to have the full information and to have made a decision. We are still going to look at native plants and small shrubs to put on the boulevard and with a bit of a budget boost for plants, we can look at some larger trees and shrubs to plant in the front yard. And best of all, now we can get started on the project.

Contact!

Finally this morning I had a call from Dave Hill of the Saanich Parks Department. We have scheduled a meeting for Friday morning to discuss our plans for the boulevard. In preparation Harry and I are developing a list of questions for our meeting. I'll let you know how it goes. Here's hoping we can move this project ahead.

Rainy day garden planning

To get my mind off the municipality's bureaucratic stalling today I headed out to a wholesale plant nursery with my sister Jan, who has an account there for her gardening business.

It didn't even matter that it was raining, we had a great time wandering through the fields and greenhouses looking at all the beautiful trees, shrubs, and plants. I was picturing some of them planted along the boulevard and in my front yard. One way or another we'll get something going on out there this spring. I bought a little fern and a climbing rose for the back fence and some organic fertilizer too.

Now I'm off to put in another call to the municipal office and then I'm going to plant the newcomers in my back yard.

Further Bureaucracy

We're still waiting to hear from the bureaucrats at the municipal parks department about our landscaping plans. I've been trying for three and a half weeks now to set up a meeting between ourselves (us and the landscape designer) and the Parks Department people to discuss what plantings will or will not be allowed on the boulevard in front of our house.

When I didn't hear back from them after the first week I discovered that they wanted an official application for a boulevard permit, so I trotted down to the municipal hall and submitted our drawing along with a note that we had several options for plantings and wanted to arrange for a meeting so could they please call us. After another week and a half I received a formal letter from them advising me that our permit application was rejected because we didn't include specifics about the planting, and suggesting that we --you guessed it--call to set up a meeting with them.

That was on Thursday. I phoned the parks people immediately saying I wanted to arrange a meeting and asking them to phone me back. Nothing Thursday, nothing Friday. This morning I left another message. No response.

I'm really wondering what it will take to get them to respond. My plan now is to call twice today, three times tomorrow, four times the next day and see how long it takes. I'll keep you posted.

I'd like to politely remind these people that it is we who pay their salaries--but I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with them. Or maybe I already have.

Tree shadow shots

Since I'm obsessed with trees, it's no wonder that most of my shadow shots have trees in them.
This one is from a lovely cherry tree near the tennis courts. I cropped it so that the shadow was the subject.

It was the orange on these trunks that caught my eye but I think the shadows really add to to image.


These last two are of shadows on the dead oak trees in Uplands Park. I just love the twisted shapes these branches take on, and they're even more dramatic after the tree dies and the bark comes off to show the silvery wood beneath.


Here's a link to Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday blog.

Camas Fields

The big star of the garry oak meadows in early May is the Camas flower. It grows from a bulb and blooms like a larger star shaped bluebell, but a much deeper blue.


Native peoples who lived here in previous centuries cultivated and harvested the bulbs for food. Apparently there's also a rare mutation, the White Camas which is reputed to be poison.

In any case the Blue Camas is a big deal in Victoria. About fifteen years ago the city realized that if it didn't cut the grass in Beacon Hill Park the Camas bulbs would bloom. I still remember driving by the park and being entranced by the blue meadow. Since then I make sure to visit as as many local parks as I can while it's in bloom. These two Border Collies, litter mates to my two, are enjoying some time at Mount Tolmie Park.