This banana palm plant growing in Vancouver was cut down at the end of November 2025 before our winter got going, thereby preventing winter rot, caused by a fungal disease in the soil. Had the banana leaves fallen with the cold weather, they would have created the perfect warm and moist environment for the fungus to get established.
The four pseudostems show how the banana leaves wrap around the central core and then around each other. Take a look at ScienceDirect’s article about how much more
This last week of January 2026 has been foggy and wet and berry-and-leaf colourful.
Seeing the two leaders of a tall (60 to 70 ft.) northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) outlined by the fog was awesome. Meanwhile, the fog horns blew all night for a couple of nights.
Moisture clung to this grass one early morning.
And the same morning, moisture still speckled the silvery leaves on this silver ragwort display assembled in planters outside a condo. I learned from Missouri Botanical Garden’s plant finder
Now in January 2026, with the days getting longer, plants are waking up. Sequoia sempervirens, also known as coast redwood, is growing male cones bearing pollen for the wind to blow on to female cones on the same tree. This particular tree grows in Stanley Park, between the Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden to the west and Lost Lagoon to the east.
Camellia sasanqua is the smaller of the two camellia species; its native home is the mountains of China and Japan. This blossom photograph
The strappy yellow petals of this Japanese witch-hazel brighten up this winter day, the first week of January 2026. This Hamamelis japonica, its scientific name, started blooming in December and now in January the tree is turning a vibrant yellow.
I photographed this particular tree growing in a minipark in Vancouver’s West End, the blossoms on January 1 and the whole tree on January 4.
Witch-hazel trees are in Hamamelidaceae, the witch-hazel family.
Although the yellow blossoms are evident,
Marina Princz is the librarian at VanDusen’s Yosef Wosk Library & Resource Centre at VanDusen Botanical Garden Library. On Thursday, October 19, she will be presenting information about the treasures at and the history of this botanical library.
Members of Nature Vancouver will receive the link to the 7:30 p.m. Zoom presentation in the weekly email. Join us at 7:20 p.m. Non-members are also welcome and should email enews@naturevancouver.ca well in advance to register for the link.
Nina
I’m looking forward to my book signing of Legacy of Trees at the frame shop, Lost Lagoon Store, in the West End Mall tomorrow: 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.; and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Perhaps I’ll see you there!
See the smart new sticker in the top left corner of the cover of my book, Legacy of Trees: Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park? Last night, my story of the trees of Stanley Park received an Honourable Mention in the 2020 British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Historical Writing Awards. What a delight.
This Honourable Mention award was announced at the BC Historical Federation’s Gala last evening, June 5, an online event. People wore party hats, sported images of fireworks behind