Sphagnum: "just add water"

The dried out sphagnum comes back to life when it is hydrated.  Can you see the colour difference?

before wetting

after pouring water on the area:  note the colour change.

Blueberry or Huckleberry?

“Blueberry or Huckleberry?”

Prince of Wales students are poring over a fine textured bush with thin, oval leaves. Sunlight filters through a stand of Hemlock and the air is deliciously fresh.

“Feel the stems, if they are round, it’s blueberry, squared, then it’s huckleberry”. Students strain to see carnivorous sundews nestled amongst the sphagnum moss. Some are examining Bog Laurel, and Labrador Tea, and that fine high arctic plant, Arctic Starflower. But they are nowhere near the arctic. They are doing a species inventory in biology class, in the middle of the city in a tiny bog rescued by the Camosun Bog Restoration Group.