The next and final meeting (until next fall) for the Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society will be outdoors, rain or shine, at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax on Monday May 27 at 6:30pm. Please meet us at the Prince of Wales Martello Tower, shown on the map.
PPP (Point Pleasant Park, 77 ha) is owned by the British Government, but the park is administered by the Department of Canadian Heritage while the Halifax Regional Municipality holds the lease. The municipality pays 1 shilling annually for the lease.
PPP was largely a closed canopy mature evergreen forest until Hurricane Juan hit shores of PPP in Sep 2003, leaving only a few groves untouched. An extensive public consultation was held in 2005 in which the many respondents expressed a desire for “Nature dominated landscape, Natural beauty, a place to connect with local history, a non-commercial park…” The Point Pleasant Park Comprehensive Plan was released in 2008 with a goal “To create a naturalized forest ecosystem”; it was widely applauded. In 2019, a tree-thinning program was begun, the objectives being to cut out invasive tree species such as Norway Maple, and to “thin out the weaker trees”. The final stage of thinning will begin this fall.
After discussing the member business at 6:30, we will look at vegetation in thinned and unthinned areas – there will be lots of spring flowering plants!
Some of us may arrive before 6:30 to scout around the park before the meeting.
Charles Cron will be leading a field trip to see a colony of Ram’s Head Lady’s Slippers near Windsor on Monday May 20 at 10:00AM. Exit the 101 at Highway 14 to head east towards Brooklyn. Just after exiting the highway, continue to the SECOND parking lot on the right. You will go uphill and there is a marked parking lot with trash containers etc. part way up the hill.
Charlie will be leading a trip to Smiley’s Provincial Park. This is a focused walk to see a Nature Trust property with Hazelnut in bloom and leatherwood shrub in Smiley’s Park as well as the general destruction caused by last year’s flooding. Because the bridge on Clayton Mckay Rd. below the entrance to the park is still washed out, approach only from Ashdale or along Hwy 14 (any direction) and follow road signs to the Park.
Charles Cron will be leading a nature hike to support the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge on Friday April 26. It will be along a little used trail on Long Lake Provincial Park.
One of the best sources of ethically grown native plants is the Native Plant Sale at the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens at Acadia University in Wolfville. This year it is on Saturday June 1 between 9:00AM and 12:00PM – and some of the limited stock often sells out early.