July 2010
Busy summer days with our focus on event planning and maintenance projects. Over 80 Volkswalkers walked the public footpath through the Preserve yesterday ! The lilies are blooming, birds and frogs are singing. We hear coyotes in the adjacent National Forest. This is a short entry because we're headed outside to tackle a long project list.
May and June 2010
It's a soggy Sunday morning. Finally able to sit down and update what's been happening in GBP this spring. We've led many tours during the high season of blooming rhododendrons. Tours take 2 hours minimum. Guiding 3 tours a day through 3.5 acres of hillside woodland garden keeps the heart pumping ! Non-tours days are filled with maintenance upkeep. "Grandmother Hemlock" who shelters the Tasmanian Tree Fern and hardy bananas is breaking apart with huge limbs falling across trails. We've started a Friends of GBP volunteer group to help us with maintenance tasks. Thank you Friends of GBP ! Incredible discoveries continue as we witness plants being uncovered within overgrown areas.
April 2010
Color everywhere ! Early blooming rhododendrons are in full bloom. Later blooming species and hybrids are ready. Typical fickle spring weather with promises of sunshine changing to gray soggy days. Spotted a tiny Orange-Crowned Warbler sipping nectar from a telopia. Didn't have my camera in hand !
March 2010
Many rhododendrons are in full bloom, a month earlier than last year. We're busy with garden tours in between spring showers.
Daily drama with wildlife. Black Tailed Deer have tasted the Erythronium revolutum, 'Pink Fawn Lily". Watched a Rough-skinned newt devouring an earthworm one morning. Finding coyote scat on the trails. Heard an eerie cry from the sky and spotted a hawk with a squirrel in its talons flying through the spruce forest. Too fast for identification or a photograph. This is truly a wild place.
February 2010
Spring has arrived, maybe a bit early ? Temperatures are still dipping at night to mid-30's. Brave trillium are emerging along the public footpath. There are many early blooming rhododendrons throughout the preserve along with magnolia campbellii.
We removed the dead banksia, most of the toppled grevillea victoriae, and toppled tree hebe which didn't survive this past winter.
Jim would say, "Opportunity to plant something new." Still we miss the towering banksia saxicola, and unique tree hebe.
Working hard this short month. Clearing debris and prepping trails for beginning of tour season, March through September, by pre-booked appointments only.
December 2009 & January 2010
Wild and wooly weeks of freezing temps, high winds, with plenty of rain have made dents in our plans to improve trail conditions throughout the property. We're keeping our fingers crossed that tender specimens that froze to the ground will recover with a warm spring. Stay tuned.
November 2009
This month is blowing by fast. When the wild weather has allowed, we venture into the garden to prune dead wood, clear fallen tree debris, and bark wet,and muddy trails. On the 23rd of November we noted our first year anniversary as the owners and residents of this enchanted woodland. Very thankful indeed. After Thanksgiving, we discovered the need for a longer boardwalk along the public footpath as Mitchell Creek flow increases with the rainstorms. Adding that to our To Do list this winter.