Plants grow by the inch but die by the foot.

Springtime—breathe in the crisp air, listen for calls of playful birds and watch your step for wildflowers! As a naturalist with Capital Regional District (CRD) Regional Parks, one of my favourite seasons to be out and about is spring.

There’s something inspiring and uplifting about the season. I recall one outing where a family with young kids was enjoying smelling the wildflowers. One of them got a little too close and ended up with some bright yellow pollen on their nose—thankfully, no bee seemed to mistake them for a flower! Wildflowers can often go unnoticed but when in full bloom, they are a sight to see, and one to protect.

Wildflowers abound in spring with their colourful and diverse looks. They can be incredibly small or large, creatively camouflaged or fantastically showy. On southern Vancouver Island, Garry oak ecosystems help support many species of wildflowers. These ecosystems are rare and endangered with less than three percent remaining in a natural state in Canada. You’ll recognize these ecosystems by the dominant Garry oak trees with their twisty branches and rough scaly bark.

These ecosystems are open meadows, which helps the smaller plants underneath to grow. Many local First Nations managed these meadows by conducting prescribed burns to cultivate the growth of camas. Known by its striking purple flower, camas is a carbohydrate-rich bulb that grows underground. It is worth noting here that in many places, including CRD Regional Parks, harvesting is only permitted for the animals and cultures that depend on these resources.

With these meadows being so rare, protecting them is paramount. In the Greater Victoria area, you can visit CRD Regional Parks like Thetis Lake, Mill Hill and Devonian to see conservation in action. Restoration volunteers work hard to remove invasive species like Scotch broom and Himalayan blackberry and park naturalists and cultural programmers lead walks highlighting the parks’ features. A guided walk is a great way to gain a new appreciation for an area but if you’re unable to join a guide, here are some activities I’d recommend for your next spring family outing:

Wildflower Scavenger Hunt

You can find a wildflower scavenger hunt on the CRD website (crd.ca) that you can use on your phone or print off. You can also borrow a plant ID book from the library and use that to help identify what you’re seeing. Wildflowers can bloom at various times so what you see on one walk might be entirely different than your next! You might spot snowdrops as early as January, white fawn lilies in April and purple sanicles in May. Western trillium is one of my favourites to watch for, as the flowers are first white but as time goes on, they turn pink!

Nature Shapes

Cut out some different shapes in various sizes. As you walk along the trail, see if you can find these shapes in nature. What shapes are the flower petals? Are they all the same? How about the sizes? Encourage thoughtful exploration by explaining the importance of leaving flowers for the animals and cultures that depend on them. It is important to model respectful and kind behaviour so wildflowers can be enjoyed by all. There are some species that can take years to bloom from seed to flower; white fawn lilies, for example, can take up to eight years!

Nature Journaling

Bring a journal or some paper, plus pencils or crayons, with you to a park or your backyard. Find some wildflowers and spend time observing them—the shapes, the colours, the textures. Then whether you’re artistic or not, try drawing the flower! Maybe it’s an abstract version (mine would be on par with a stick person). As a game, have members of your family draw different flowers and then guess which flowers they drew. The artist can choose whether to provide clues or not!

Whatever activity you take part in and whichever park you visit, one of the most important things you can do is stay on the trail. Official trails have been designed to protect sensitive areas and, in some cases, endangered species, including Garry oak ecosystems. Wildflowers are often a sight unseen until they bloom. Their leaves are fragile, they can grow by the inch and trampling them with our feet can lead to less wildflowers in following years. Let’s watch our step and stay on trail to make sure wildflowers will continue to be a sight to see for years to come.

Art has always been a gravitational force, pulling us back to our roots. It is practice, crafted through time and dedication. In ancient times, we used our voices to write soliloquies, our hands to draw imaginative scenes on limestone walls and our minds to weave intricate stories passed down through generations.

Today, we use pencils, pens, crayons, computers and iPads to make art. While these tools offer many blessings and fuel our creativity in unique ways, they can also distance us from the natural world. The more our tools separate us from the land, the further we drift from our connection to the Earth.

Children of all ages still find wonder and creativity in their natural surroundings. Each tree branch can be a sword, and each stream is a river daring to be crossed. Each ridge formed from the bark of Douglas firs represents a home for fairies waiting to be explored. So, how can we foster this innate creativity?

Let’s encourage youth to seek art in nature. Invite them to find joy in spinning samaras drifting down like helicopters, to stumble over roots and climb back up with renewed enthusiasm. Encourage them to build bug homes and create nature-inspired portraits. When we encourage children to explore the outdoors, we are allowing them to form connections with their surroundings.

Nature provides an unstructured learning environment that fosters creativity without constraints. It allows for unbounded expression and the opportunity to form a tactile relationship with the world. Through play and observation, learners can create unique, place-based memories that cultivate a deep-seated care for the environment. As the saying goes, you must understand something to care for it, and understanding comes through direct experience.

Here are some activities you can do to reconnect with art in an outdoor learning space:

Create written-form content about nature

This could be poetry, prose or something completely different. Embracing the freedom of the outdoors means embracing writing what we want to write and how we want to write it. Let the wind take you away!

• Nature Journaling: Nature journaling is a freeform type of written content. Find a sit-spot and journal about your surroundings. What moves fast? What moves slow? What patterns can you recognize? You can sketch the plants that you see and add them to your writing.

• Haiku Writing: Haikus are a type of Japanese poem. These are intrinsically about connecting with nature, and they are short and simple. They consist of three lines, with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5. Their simplicity allows you to create multiple pieces about a variety of beings.

Build bug homes and nature portraits

Taking inspiration from fairy homes, try to make some homes for bugs. This is an all-season activity since bugs can be around all times of the year.

Do you ever see yourself in nature? Try literally seeing yourself in nature by making a nature portrait. For both activities, make sure not to pick any live plants!

• Build Bug Homes: Go outside and find some loose pinecones, seeds, needles, leaves and sticks. Using these materials, try to build a home for insects. These bugs need food, shelter, and water just like the rest of us! Can you get creative? Do they need a toilet, or a TV?

• Nature Portraits: Gather natural materials like leaves, flowers, seeds and pebbles. Create collages or mosaics that represent your face or your friend’s face. You can use these portraits to explore how you feel connected to the natural world.

Breathing, meditating and spending time in nature

Studies have shown that spending time outdoors increases our mental wellness. Taking time for mindful moments outdoors can improve our mental state and help us thrive.

• Nature Meditation: Take some time for a meditation session in a natural setting where you can focus on your breathing, listen to the sounds of nature and feel the textures around you. This can help develop a deeper sense of calm and connection to the environment.

• Mindfulness Walks: Organize walks with your friends or in your community. Practice mindfulness by paying attention to your senses. Notice the colours, textures and sounds of nature, and reflect on how sensory experiences can affect mood and creativity.