Wildflowers and Deadlines

Things are perhaps a bit unremarkable in the Malloy household the last couple of weeks (painting and fixing continue), but Mother Nature has been putting on a spectacular display for us almost daily.

Our backyard is a wildflower garden.  We have received the bulk of the moisture we will get for the next few months, and wildflowers are progressing rapidly.  It seems that every week, something new appears and then dies away.  Each plant seems to find its own slot where it can bloom without competing with a thousand others for moisture or pollination.  We are just coming into the lupine blooming season (I didn’t expect that in a dry climate), and there are blue blooms everywhere.

An alpine lily called Bear Grass has come into bloom at the same time and dots the yard with yellow flowers.

Sometimes there are familiar plants like strawberry or wild delphiniums, but they are a different variety here, which leads to much looking in wildflower books and online.

And then there are even orchids in an old growth larch forest near us.

Now that the snowpack is gone, the deer are back on a regular basis, and it is not abnormal to see one or two in the yard.  It is a mark of how common that is by the fact we no longer take pictures.  (Yes, the sun is shining today.  So what.)

Fortunately for the communities in the area, the flooding has passed its peak, and waters are receding, albeit slowly.  Sandbagging hit its peak in Osoyoos last week, but then as the risk is lowered they now have to empty the bags and put the stuff away. 

Now we are preparing for fire season, expecting a hot dry summer with lots of wildfire risk; over 200 wildfires have been reported in BC this season so far.  Locals tell us that we are at the greenest time of the year, and things will only get progressively browner as summer progresses.

Everyone told us that once we moved here we could expect lots of visitors, and June is going to be a good example of that.  Nest week we are going to host a couple from Tasmania for a few days (Brian met Rob at Staff College) and then I have a favourite friend coming for a week at the end of the month.  Thus the deadlines—get everything done and put away so we won’t be embarrassed in front of guests.  Oh dear.