GOERT: Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team

The Woodlands volunteers of the Friends of Government House Gardens Society work in the natural Garry oak area of the Government House grounds (below the house), managing, restoring and conserving this rare habitat. Public tours of the area are given to teach about these ecosystems, their value, and our human role in their conservation. There is also a self-guided trail.

This site features a striking spring display of camas and buttercup under Garry oaks. Restoration includes some management for native plants, daphne removal and ongoing research.

Projects at this park include broom removal by local citizens.

Protection and restoration of a small patch of Garry oak habitat is an ongoing project of the Maddison Lane Stewardship Group and the neighbourhood.

This site is a residential native plant garden in the Oaklands neighbourhood of Victoria. Garry oak habitat was restored over a period of four years by volunteers meeting once a week.

The Ryan Greenway is a project to enhance an undeveloped road allowance (which includes an impressive row of large mature Garry oak trees) and Ryan Hill Park (a newly created City of Victoria park which includes some Garry oak habitat). Volunteers are needed for invasive species removal and native plantings.

Oaklands Green is a park teeming with native plants that was created out of a field of grass. This is a community project aimed at educating the public about the value of naturescaping and Garry oak ecosystems. Partners include City of Victoria Parks, the Oaklands Community Association, the Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society and Naturescape BC.

This small park offers stunning ocean views from the highest point of land (66m) on the south coast of Vancouver Island, and rocky knolls from which to appreciate them. The sunset views over downtown Victoria and the distant Sooke Hills are particularly spectacular. Come for a visit in the spring, when wildflowers bloom in the Garry oak meadows.

A residential seaside native plant garden, featured in the April 2007 issue of House and Home magazine. Plants in the seaside garden include: Saskatoon berry, Indian plum, Oregon grape, Garry oaks, western crabapple, red-osier dogwood, woolly sunflower, coastal strawberry, snowbush, oceanspray, mock-orange, kinnickkinnick, snowberry, sedum, western hawthorn, hairy manzanita, common juniper, native grasses and bulbs. There is also a small Garry oak restoration area to the east of the Boyle property, beside the walkway to Gonzales Beach. The restoration area is accessible from the sidewalk along Crescent Road. The City of Victoria has kindly given permission for work to continue on this site.