welcome

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

— Hal Borland

In some lucky parts of the country, spring revealed its colourful face some time ago. Victoria, B.C., started its annual flower count on February 26. For one week, citizens of Victoria counted all the blossoms they could find while the rest of us could only dream of our spring to come. But come it will. Spring’s timing may differ from year to year, but we can all rest assured that each year the snow will disappear and the flowers will show their beautiful faces once again.

we are celebrating the coming of spring with a number of colourful blooms. Our feature plant is the vibrant blue flag iris, while our guest column introduces some of our gorgeous native orchids. Although the rarity and difficulty of cultivating orchids makes them a poor choice for gardens, they are a wonder to behold in our remaining wilderness areas. So take a tour of some of the best of them in our feature column.

Another wonderful aspect of spring is the return, or re-emergence, of much missed wildlife species. The courting songs of birds are often the first sign of the spring to come. Once spring is further along, this song is joined by the relaxing sound of frogs croaking. Our feature creature column looks at our Canadian tree frogs.

Spring is a great time for planting trees. Our backyard habitat article provides advice on choosing, planting and maintaining trees for best survival. Trees are a great way to transform the look and feel of your property and to enhance its wildlife value.

So welcome to spring. Enjoy.

Enjoy,

credits
Most of the photographs were kindly provided by Arlene and John Neilson and Jim Robertson.

Thank you to Gaston Tessier and Paul McLellan for their generosity in contributing to and reviewing the material for this website.

Thank you to Sarah Coulber, Sharon White, Louise Hanlon, and Terri-Lee Reid of the Canadian Wildlife Federation for their many contributions to the site.

Thank you to Terry Wiskin of Intoinfo Inc. for the initial design and layout for this website.

Thank you to Lynn Villeneuve of the Canadian Wildlife Federation for the design and layout of all new and updated material.

The Plant Encyclopedia photographs were provided by Jim Robertson and Arlene and John Neilson.

Thank you to Terry Wiskin of Intoinfo Inc. for the design and layout for this website.

The material for this website was compiled, researched, and/or written by Maria MacRae, Backyard Habitat Programs Coordinator, who you can contact at mariamac@wildaboutgardening.org