Apr
21
Positively Lush
Posted by: lmairs | April 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Juicy sweet spring rain fell Sunday and I woke Monday morning to sprigs and fronds bursting with life and in want for more.
This is wild clematis. You can see it growing along the entrance way near the mailbox and if you’re awake and want to see this one it is interspersed in the lower quadrant along the trail right up until you get to the fork where the Saskatoon trail begins. It is not a common plant, it has a beautiful flower and will bloom only through the end of June then it’s gone. This clematis was happy for the rain.
In his opening remarks for last Saturday’s events, Chair of the Regional District, Robert Hobson, challenged those gathered to identify the many colours of green that surrounded us. We laughed. Quite simply it would be a challenge to make that list right now. The photo above shows the lemony green buds of fresh maple leaf flanked by douglas fir, cedar and jack pine. Off in the distance, and only because I know it’s there, is a great black cottonwood with a green all of its own making and providing yet another tone for this backdrop of greenness.
This what Woodhaven looks like from above. We are the green in this corner of town surrounded by neighbourhoods, Westpoint Village, Crawford Estates, The Quarry and our closest neighbours in the Lower Mission. The Lower Mission neighbourhood still has many tall pine and fir so we blend in quite well here. Woodhaven is cool in the summer when the temperatures get stifling outside and in the winter months is an oasis of quiet and calm and a safe place for critters to rest. Whatever Woodhaven is, today it is green. As many greens as you’ve ever seen and it is changing fast, spring will do that.
The Woodhaven Eco Art Project is ongoing from April to October 2010. Look for the poetry on the fence line, “Open My Eyes: Twelve Woodhaven Poems” by Nancy Holmes, these are mounted on board with drawings by Tia Mclennan.
Woodhaven is at 4711 Raymer Road. South on Gordon, cross over DeHart, second left is Raymer Road, it zig zags, stay on it, slow to 30km and keep left. At the T in the road is where you’ll find all the greenness.