Horsetail (Equisetum sp.) is a living fossil.  Those of us who find it as an uninvited guest in our gardens can be thankful it doesn’t grow 30 metres high like some of its ancestors in the Paleozoic forests.  It’s also called scouring rush as the stems are coated with abrasive silicates and the plants were […]

Despised by many as pesky ‘weeds’, dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) have long been appreciated by herbalists for their valuable healing properties.  The 17th century herbalist Nicholas Culpepper proclaimed, “You see here what virtues this common herb hath, and that is the reason the French and Dutch so often eat them in the spring.”  And indeed, dandelion […]

The apple (Malus domestica) was brought to North America in the 17th century by colonists.  At one time there were thousands of varieties of apples with greatly differing sizes, shapes, colours and markings.  There were early, midseason and late varieties for fresh eating, varieties for winter storage and others for baking, drying and cider.  Sadly, […]

The beautiful arbutus tree (Arbutus menziesii) is one of the distinctive features of the Sunshine Coast.  Canada’s only native broadleaf evergreen grows in areas where the soil is rocky and drains rapidly and is often found along rocky shorelines.  It can also be found growing in residential areas.  The flowers, which open in April and […]

The plants and mushrooms from our gardens and wild spaces on the Sunshine Coast offer us many beautiful colours for dyeing fabric and fibre.  This blog is the beginning of a series which will explore and document dyeing with local plants and mushrooms.  I hope that other local dyers will add their dyeing experiences. Alders […]