July 4, 2022

Dear Betty Sutherland Stewards,

We had an awesome day yesterday, getting to know our site better and learning about two new plants: wood avens and hedge parsley. Special thanks go out to Anna and Karen for joining us from the south end of the city, and teaching us everything they have learned about wood avens, it was great meeting you both! Karen patiently pointed out the differences for all of us to feel really confident identifying this plant, and Anna's positive energy helped everyone stay motivated. Through this process, we made an exciting discovery: we have lots of native wood avens at our site, and we even found what may be the rare, yellow-flowered wood aven! It sounds like the native wood avens are not as common in other sites of the city, so we will be focusing next week on continuing to remove the invasive version that live right beside them (unfortunately), and any other invasive plants surrounding them, to give them even more space to spread out. I have attached a picture to show some of the differences between the native and invasives, however identifying them in-person is the best way to learn about their differences, as it is easy to mix them up. Thank you also to Helen and Alan who also made a surprise visit, and were quick to find many wood aven patches that we will now be targeting!

We also learned how to identify another plant that has many look-alikes: hedge parsley. Mario helped us make some helpful observations, like how many of these plants have a slightly pink/red base, and its stems are hairy. Interestingly, it seems to grow around the wood avens and unfortunately, this plant is quite pervasive at our site, so we will be focusing on removing this one as well over the next few weeks, in hopes to do so before it flowers and sets seed. Everyone worked hard to pull this plant out with its roots in the south end, and we made quite a dent in that area. Moist soil definitely makes it easier to remove, and as Mario discovered, even a broken fallen branch works well if you don't have a shovel.

Check out the photos from yesterday's event and other events here.

Many of you may have noticed that our site is filled with buckthorns, and in talking with Anna, she suggested we have a buckthorn removal party. She has kindly offered to lend out Cherry beaches' extractigators (see google image below)! These awesome tools make a tough 10-20 minute digging job last seconds with minimal effort! If this sounds fun to you, look out for more details about this special event. Since we may end up with a large pile of buckthorns by the end, we are asking if anyone has a pick-up truck and is willing to help bring these to a collection station, to please reach out.

While we have lots of work to keep us busy this summer, it was so encouraging to see how weak the DSV is now where it has been cut/pulled, even as we haven't worked at the site in the last 2-3 weeks. While we acknowledge that our work can feel overwhelming at times, there are many native plants that are thriving, thanks to your efforts! And we are only beginning to uncover all of the cool native plants at our site, as there are so many plants we have yet to identify! I am so grateful for everyone that has volunteered their time over the last 2 months, it is so exciting to see the direct positive impacts you are all having on our local environment, and I hope you will continue to join us. Whenever you need a break from plant removal at our events, I encourage you to look around and/or get some help from others in identifying the native plants present, because sometimes it may seem like we are looking at a sea of invasives, but native plants are always around if we look closely :)

I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I look forward to seeing you at our next event!