Stanley Park Ecology Society News

-Wilma Mosmans, SPES volunteer Garden Steward

SPES volunteers maintain the Stanley Park Native Plant Demonstration Garden, which is located between the end of Robson Street and the tennis courts, and shares the area with the West End Community Garden.  The Garden is divided up into 2 long beds and 2 round beds (as illustrated in the native garden brochure available in the Nature House).

"…May is ‘the’ flowering month, especially for the groundcovers and bushes that need to flower before being shaded out by trees in full leaf.  Look for: Pacific bleeding heart, redwood sorrel, and Siberian miner’s lettuce.  Compare the flowers of: false Solomon’s-seal , star-flowered false Solomon’s-seal, and Hooker’s fairbells.  The black twinberry, which belong to the honeysuckle family, have started flowering.  Last year hummingbirds were seen visiting them throughout the summer for their nectar…

….You may also notice a new mason bee condo (kudos to Dave, its builder and SPES volunteer).  These native bees are shiny black with iridescent blue/green backs, and don’t look at all like a honey bee or bumble bee.  They are extremely important as pollinators, and emerge when orchards are blooming and day time temperatures are at 12-14 degrees.  This year they were late coming out of the "woodworks" (they nest in tree cavities) due to the cold temperatures…

…Flowers to look for in June:

• broad-leaved stonecrop - a groundcover succulent with yellow flowers
• common camas - has blue flowers
• goat’s beard - dies back every winter, and grows to the size of a bush in spring.  You can easily spot its white flowers in clearings and at the forest edge
• bunchberry or dwarf dogwood - a groundcover with dogwood type flowers

…"