Seasonal colours & lights on False Creek

Happy Canada Day

Waving the red and white.

British Columbia Day, August 6th, 2007

Because there is no national holiday to celebrate gardening (how can this be?), I've decided to post garden or plant-related themes related to the Canadian stat holidays.

Today was British Columbia (BC) Day. Here are links to photos of edible berries of coastal BC:

Alaskan blueberry Vaccinium alaskaense

Dwarf blueberry Vaccinium caespitosum

Bog cranberry Oxycoccus oxycoccos

Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis

Black raspberry Rubus leucodermis

Thimbleberry Rubus parviflorus

Himalayan blackberry Rubus discolor

Trailing blackberry Rubus ursinus

Saskatoon Amelanchier alnifolia

To learn more about how these plants were traditionally used by the aboriginal peoples as well as how to identify the plants in the wild, I highly recommend the field guide Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, BC and Alaska (2004) or the original edition (I have this one), Plants of Coastal British Columbia including Washington, Oregon & Alaska (1994).

Happy Canada Day

In celebration, I am posting links to Flickr photos of all the provincial and territorial flowers. (Note: none are edible, although the Pitcher Plant might like to eat you--it is a carnivore.)

British Columbia
Cornus nuttallii Pacific Dogwood

Alberta
Rosa acicularis Wild Rose

Saskatchewan
Lillium philadelphicum Western Red Lily

Manitoba
Anemone patens Prairie Crocus

Ontario
Trillium grandiflorum White Trillium

Quebec
Iris versicolor Linné Blue Flag Iris

New Brunswick
Viola cucullata Purple Violet

Nova Scotia
Epigaea repens Mayflower

Prince Edward Island
Cypripedium acaule Lady's Slipper

Newfoundland and Labrador
Sarracenia purpurea Pitcher Plant

Yukon
Epilobium angustifolium Fireweed

Northwest Territories
Dryas integrifolia Mountain Avens

Nunavit
Saxifraga oppositifolia Purple Saxifraga