Category: FOUP Invasive Plant Removal & Restoration Events

Focus on Crow Garlic in Uplands Park & Cattle Point – Invading the Meadows

Update from Margaret Lidkea :

CROW GARLIC

Crow garlic is invading the meadows of Uplands Park.  The garlic bulbs, not tasty, are crowding out bulbs and roots of native plants.  The bulbs produce bulblets and the flowers make seeds and bulblets.  Nothing eats it.
This is an extremely invasive plant.  It probably arrived in Victoria from Europe or Asia accidentally with other seeds.

No strategies for removal have been developed.  An experimental removal of the plant in Uplands Park by pulling it up in June to get the main bulb has resulted in fewer and smaller plants.

Last year many plants were pulled on Cattle Point and in the central meadow.  In 2019 plants were again removed.  Volunteers have been essential do this time consuming removal.

University of Victoria international students from the City University of Hong Kong have helped in both areas.  Many thanks to them and volunteers, Felicity Bradley, Betty Thacker, Ryan Blacoe, Ron Carter, Jacquie Bird, Famiko Yamaguchi, Nick Blumberg and Conway Carruthers for 18 hours of work.  Margaret has also removed it from Cattle Point for over 15 hours.

Cattle Point maritime meadows and rocky areas are virtually free of crow garlic plants.  Shrubby areas are still full of it.   Alas not all bulbs are able to be pulled because of the clay soil and the compaction of the soil by so many visitors over the years.  Visitors should consider rock hopping.

Remember:  NOTHING IS TO BE REMOVED FROM OAK BAY PARKS WITHOUT PERMISSION.

You can join the Friends of Uplands Park on days that are arranged, or contact Margaret to arrange your own date with permission.   People that are pulling crow garlic and leaving it in piles are really distributing seeds and bulblets and more invasive plants

Remember you can help by joining Friends of Uplands Park.

 

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Friends of Uplands Park Society Garry Oak Meadow Marathon – Sundays 1-3pm – February through March

The Friends of Uplands Park Society is participating, with groups across southern Vancouver Island, in a Garry Oak Meadow Marathon, and is hosting volunteer events Sundays [1-3pm] in February & March, starting Feb3-2019. Tools, instruction, and refreshments provided. Meet at Cattle Point in Uplands Park. More info on the attached photo and more about the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Marathon initiative at natureconservancy.ca/meadowmarathon

Help Plant Native Plant Species in Uplands Park – Sunday, December 2, 2018 from 1-3pm

Help FOUPS [Friends of Uplands Park Society] restore the GORSE AREA by planting some native species.  Tools and instruction provided along with an opportunity to learn about the flora of this endangered ecosystem…the most diverse in all of Canada.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 2
1 TO 3pm
Meet at the GARRY OAK KIOSK off Beach Drive

PDF of Poster: 2018 Dec 2 PLANTING in gorse area

 

The GREATER VICTORIA GREEN TEAM collaboration with FOUPS on October 22, 2018

Amanda Evans of the GREATER VICTORIA GREEN TEAM writes…  

The GVGT is a partner with Friends of Uplands Park. 

They involve people from all over the Greater Victoria Area in helping to restore natural areas.

On October 22, 33 peoplehelped to remove invasive Daphne laureola, aka the stinky rat-food plant, in Uplands Park for 3 hours. This is a total of 99 hours of volunteering.

 THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU THAT HELPED!

 Friends of Uplands Park invites all of the Oak Bay Community to help with restoration in the most diverse ecosystem in Canada, the Garry Oak Ecosystem, in Uplands Park, Anderson Hill, Trafalgar Park and other parks throughout Greater Victoria. Please contact the GVGT for other opportunities.

 

Grandparent Garry Oak Liberated in Uplands Park by Willows School Students and FOUP – The Story.

Margaret Lidkea, Chair of the Friends of Uplands Park Society, recounts the story of the liberation of a Grandparent Garry Oak from invasive plants and the work of restoration of the ecosystem around this Garry Oak that has been accomplished by students from Willows Park working with the  Friends of Uplands Park.
An archival aerial photo from the 1920’s shows this oak and a nearby native Black hawthorn tree in a plowed field with no other plants. You can see how dark it is underneath, preventing plants that need light from growing.  The trees surrounding the oak are invasive Norway maples whose canopy prevents enough sun from reaching the ground. The only plants underneath were English ivy and Daphne laureolaaka “Stinky rat food plant”.
The big branch growing west covered the West trail.  It was easy to see the smaller branch that grew NW down to the ground.  We think it may have been a“Treaty Tree branch”.  The 1st Nations, without a written language, had the tradition of sealing contracts or treaties by taking a branch of a young Garry oak tree down to the ground and placing a large rock on top so that it grew that way.  There are 3 documented Treaty Trees in the Uplands and at least 1 other in another yard.
In the Fall of 2015, a few classes from Willows Elementary cut down many of the native but invasive snowberry bushes and removed the English ivy underneath. I removed the Daphne laureola because its toxicity and poisonous factor made it inappropriate for school children to remove. This photo is just after the invasive Norway maples and European ash were removed, summer 20
In summer 2016, a big branch pointing south fell down.  In the Fall, more of the invasive plants were removed.  The stump from the branch that fell grew many twigs of oak leaves.  Will it regrow?

Summer of 2017, the biggest branch fell down and so did the Treaty branch.  The branches were left on the ground to provide habitat for animals and also niches for plants.  Fall 2017, more Willows School classes became involved in removing invasive ivy and also sawing down young Norway maple and English hawthorn trees.  They also started to plant native species and scatter seeds.  Students are creating a Garry oak meadow almost from scratch.  Some of the green plants in the foreground are an endangered dense-flowered willowherb growing from seeds thrown by students.
Fall 2018, about 20 Willows’ classes are removing invasive ivy, planting about $1500 of native plants purchased from Saanich Native Plant Nursery with donations, and sowing  “seed bombs” made in class with seeds from native plants that will hopefully grow.
Slide show of photos

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Uplands Park: The Great Rip Off Photos from October 13, 2018. Join in the fun on Sunday, October 14th, 2018.

Thanks to all the volunteers who came out to The Great Rip Off in Uplands Park on October 13th, 2018. Such a beautiful day to be in the Park and great mounds of ivy were collected. For those who missed all the fun today, it is all happening again, Sunday, Oct 14th, from 1-4pm. Meet at grassy entrance to Cattle Point on Beach Drive. Tools and gloves and snacks. Family friendly. Hoping some Oak Bay Council Candidates show up too. Photos by Kathleen Matthews.

The Great Rip Off … in Uplands Park … October 13 & 14, 2018 … 1 to 4pm [Saturday & Sunday]

All welcome/encouraged to help remove Ivy from Uplands Park. Saturday & Sunday, October 13 & 14th, 2018. from 1-4pm. Meet at the Beach Drive Entrance to Cattle Point. [The annual FOUP Broom Bash is now re-invented as the annual Great Rip Off with the focus on IVY. ]

Volunteer help needed: Cattle Point Carpet Burweed Crawl – Sundays May 6,13,20 [1 – 3pm]

Join Friends of Uplands Park to remove the extreme invasive carpet burweed on Cattle Point. Although small, it can cover and destroy the colourful wildflowers. Prickly seeds in May and June stick on shoes, clothes, fur and dog paws to spread to your yard and to sports fields. This is a real nasty weed. We need your help to weed. [Text and poster by Margaret Lidkea, FOUP Steering Committee Chair.]