Noon walk in #FinnertyGardens @uvic.ca #Spring_2025

A clump of yellow and green giant timber bamboo in the background showcases the beautiful bark of Père David's Maple, a beautiful warm burgundy-brown with green patches and white vertical stripes. I can see why it is one of the maples under the "snakebark" common name umbrella. It's bark is more drab when the rain hasn't brought out the colours, the same way beach pebbles always look boring when they dry out, but like jewels again when they are wet.

Acer davidii showcasing its beautiful bark in the rain, with giant bamboo culms bracing against the winter cold in the background. Finnerty Gardens has so many delightful plant juxtapositions, it's a real spirit-lifter to visit.
#finnertygardens #uvic #gardendesign #plantnerd #bamboo #maple

An old log is surrounded by ragged end-of-winter ferns. The log has a whorled growth habit, visible with the bark gone, showing the intricate maze of beetle galleries and the dense reaction wood under old branch attachments, now forming little nesting spots for brilliant acid-green moss tufts and the start of lichen patches.

See? Great logs in the Finnerty Gardens stumpery. This one has beetle galleries and whorls and moss gardens and *everything*!
#finnertygardens #stumpery #plantnerd #moss

A brown log with lines that look like the skin of a humpback whale is surrounded by arching and curling ferns in shades of green and yellow, some with lovely golden spores. Their growth habit evokes the feeling of roiling waves.

The stumpery at Finnerty Gardens has this little vignette that reminds me of a humpback's mild regard as it moves through waves. I just love the way the fronds are flowing here, and the choice of logs and stumps throughout is top notch.
#finnertygardens #plantnerd #ferns #gardendesign

First signs of spring - the bizarre blooms of Hamamelis mollis! (also known as Chinese witch hazel).

Exotic species & a favourite of over-wintering kinglet species.

#hamamelismollis #finnertygardens #universityofvictoria #uvic #w̱sánećtraditionalterritory #photography