“Wild Plants in Relation to the Beautification of Point Grey”

Lecture delivered to the Kerrisdale Ratepayer’s Association – 11/8/15

I understand that it was intimated I was to speak on the “practical side of Botany.”

This gives one an unlimited range from which to choose a subject. There are so many practical sides to Botany - any one of which might be discussed before an Association such as this - that I had some difficulty in deciding which one would be most useful, and not too scientific for amateur gardeners, as I presume most of you are.

I might have discussed the life and work of a flowering plant, in order to help you to see and understand better what is going on in your garden. To help you to interpret the signs which plants are continually giving you and which you fail to observe because you have not been initiated into the mysteries of the plant world.

The mother tries to interpret every movement of her infant child. Certain individuals boast that their dog can almost talk, because they are able to interpret every whim of the animal; but when it comes to the plant world we find few who try to understand the silent language of flowers so that they can help the poor sufferers which so often struggle through a miserable existence in our gardens.

I might have discussed our natural resources in so far as Medicinal and other plants of economic importance are concerned, or dealt with the relation of our native flora to agriculture and horticulture. The fungous diseases of plants is a separate branch of Botany; most of our own diseases and little ailments are due to minute organisms belonging to the plant world.

It is useless for me to enumerate the various subjects I might have discussed, so I will proceed with the one I have selected for tonight, and trust that some members of the audience will find something of interest.

In selecting “Wild plants in relation to the beautification of Point Grey” I am catering to those who would like to see the natural beauty of Point Grey restored. I say restored, because it has been necessary – through the grading of roads, and railways – to destroy many beautiful pictures in most districts of the municipality.

By natural beauty, I do not mean a wilderness of dense bush. The wilderness we find on our unimproved land is unnatural; it is the after-effects of logging operations. Our much boasted Stanley Park is by no means a natural forest, the loggers, many years ago, ruined its natural beauty; and those who deceive themselves and others by saying it is a natural forest, not only display great ignorance but show that their powers of observation are extremely limited.

You have only to go to the foothills of our mountains which have not been logged or burned over, to see and appreciate what natural beauty means; - Open woodlands, with beautiful shrubs as under-brush, Salmonberry, Thimbleberry, Huckleberry, Barberry, and many species of beautiful Ericaceous plants associated with numerous orchids and other showy herbs; but I will deal more fully with these at a later stage.