From soft pinks and yellows to sage greens… 
Two species of St.Johns wort 
Flowers, notebooks and dye samples 
Just-finished dye samples being rinsed 
The wild St.John’s wort, source of the colours 
Drawing in the sun 
Other treasure observed along the way 
Bugs on an unidentified tree from the rose family 
Wild St.John’s wort 
Insect yielding orange… an uncommonly small Japanese beetle? 
Domestic variety of St.Johns wort
On the warm Saturday afternoon of June 22 we met outside the Strathcona Community Centre at 601 Keefer St and our keen group of over a dozen participants strolled east past MacLean Park and south along Hawks, admiring trees and flowers, observing the landscape and considering the time and events that have passed since it was ancient forest and wild creatures, its streams thick with salmon and trout, when the Coast Salish made and kept the laws of the land, the ways of being here.
This time our route took us through Strathcona Community Garden, where we stopped to visit nettles and the rewilded area in the southeast section. Anna said that last year, when she was doing the Wayfinding walks with Nicola, there had been St.John’s wort everywhere, in profusion. She had thought it would be the same this year, plenty for a big dyepot; but that hasn’t been the case. What influenced this shift?
Once again Jennifer brought beautiful handmade notebooks for everyone, and we spent time at Trillium carefully observing and drawing the flowers, and making notes about the dye samples.
The third and final walk in this series will be Saturday July 20, 2019 — find the link on this page when it’s released. Event is free, but please register