Okanagan's Sun Flowers

I'm sitting in City Perks Coffeehouse in Saskatoon.  Paintings by local artists decorate the bright white walls and a small gas fireplace sits in a corner of this cafe situated in an older residential area near the downtown. It's  a great spot for coffee, lunch and their Saskatoon berry cheesecake is to die for.
The view out the window is gray.  Gray sky, gray road, gray buildings, gray grass.  It has been a nasty winter here, as it has been across most of Canada.   A new record was set: 57 days when the thermometer reached -30 C with wind chill.  And the spell of winter has not broken yet.  We drove north of the city on Sunday. There were frozen ponds in the gray fields under a broad, cold blue sky.  There was no green; no leaves, not even any pussy willows.  It is May 5!  But things could be worse, it is snowing in Calgary today!
I left Vernon on Friday.  It was sunny and a balmy 27 C.  My plane touched down in Calgary an hour later. It was snowing and an hour later I arrived here to grayness.

I apologize if I  sound like a broken record crowing on and on about Vernon and the Okanagan Valley, its beautiful scenery, great outdoors activities and good weather.  Admittedly, the weather in the valley has not been perfect.  This spring there has been quite a few cool days, some rain and dull days.  But everything is green.  We've been on several local hikes and bike rides.

By Canadian standards,  the first signs of spring come early to the Okanagan.  The golf courses open by early March; the returning birds arrive as early as late February, (although this can be a bit confusing as there are robins, gulls, ducks and geese that never leave); by mid April  flower beds are adorned with daffodils and tulips, the grass in the pastures turns a hopeful shade of light rich green and the fruit trees are covered with blossom.

But for me, the sign of spring I await with greatest anticipation is the blooming of the 'arrowleaf balsalmroot' (aka the Okanagan Sunflower).  First a few appear on the sunniest southern slopes of the arid hills. This year I spotted the first ones on April 13 on a drive  along Kalamalka Lake.  I think this was later than last year.  (Yes, we too, are having a later spring.)  By the following week any undisturbed slopes were covered with these bright yellow flowers.

Known scientifically as Balsamorhiza Sagittata, this bold and showy plant thrives among the grasslands and mountain forests of the valley.  It is prolific in areas untouched by farmers or animals.  Identified and named by its fuzzy, silver gray broad arrow-shaped leaves it pushes up strong erect stems that hold its showy and happy flowers.  

It grows in bunches, with multiple flowers stretching up, their faces looking somewhere between the horizon and the overhead sun.  For me, it defines spring time in the Okanagan.
Although prolific, I've not seen them displayed as cut flowers and, after picking some last week, I think I know why.  They have a pungent fragrance and although edible, are reported to have a bitter flavour.  Apparently early First Nations people used the sap for a topical antiseptic and dried and ground the long taps roots into a starchy flour.  The plants are palatable to wildlife and livestock so its abundant presence is a sign of overall range health.

The Vernon Outdoors Club ramble last Tuesday (April 29) took us through the arid grasslands surrounding Goose Lake which sits west above Swan Lake.  The club had gotten permission to take this walk which passes through private property.

A large group of us meandered through the thick greening grasses admiring the views of the Swan Lake and Spallumcheen Valleys. We crossed by  rounded chunks of concrete and old wooden posts, remnants of the Grey Canal, B C's longest irrigation canal completed in 1914. It collected water from Aberdeen Lake, south of Lavington, to water the thirsty fields and orchards of the greater Vernon area, snaking along the north and south Coldstream Valley north to BX Creek, above Swan Lake Valley to Goose Lake and south to spill into Okanagan Lake. Decommissioned a couple decades ago, parts of the canal course are now a series of walking trails know as the Grey Canal Trails (www.ribbonsofgreen.ca )  

We lingered over lunch perched at the top of the hill with Goose Lake behind us and the still-white top of Silver Star Mountain shining down from the East over the very still Swan Lake.

We were surrounded by Okanagan Sunflowers.  Despite our numbers, it was quiet and the vigorous spring sun warmed our backs and bare arms.  It was a spectacular North Okanagan spring day!