A nunatak is an unglaciated island of stone and a few survivor species in the midst of a glacial landscape. Recent studies in Sweden have shown that some Swedish spruce trees survived […]
Reverse Nunataks
Ingrowth
This is not a forest clearing: Weeds in the Grass, Ewing Pines and firs are invasive species here. This is not a forest: Young Trees There’s not a tree here older than […]
The Joke is On Us
It’s that time of year! An Old Tradition Hangs On Despite the infill of subdivisions, old habits of spring burning aren’t dead yet. The bigger the flames the better, it seems. Sun […]
Bad Green Good Brown
Somebody got the idea that plants filter water and stabilize slopes. That’s true, but it’s only part of the story. What plants are really doing is living. In terms of work, the […]
Hints at a New Science of Life
The science of botany got its start in plant classification and botanical gardens. Because of that, contemporary human understanding of plant communities largely revolves around species and their interactions. The results can […]
Hawthorns in Danger of Extirpation
Somebody read that hawthorns grow wild here. Domestic varieties show up in low-water gardening just about everywhere, with their pretty pink flowers and their red berries for the birds. Full marks for […]
Standing Still
A long time ago, orcharding started in the Okanagan when Lord Aberdeen and Lady Aberdeen planted the Coldstream Ranch with fruit so they could make jam and compete with these folks from the old […]
Making Light of Gravity
Gravity is the point at which the energy of the universe touches the earth. We should be able to use that. Who needs fossil fuels. Here, for example, is the energy that […]
Different Borders
Here’s how the American and Canadian governments think about the border that cuts our valley in two: Oroville-Osoyoos Border Crossing, Highway 97 It is, as you can see, pretty hard to tell […]
The Garden and the University
Here’s one of the gardens at the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, right smack dab in the middle of the grasslands of Ellison, north of Kelowna. Given that the American half […]
Okanagan Okanogan 