Fuschia

The fuschia above was photographed in Finnerty Gardens on the University of Victoria Campus. Victoria prides itself on its many beautiful gardens and Finnerty, while not so famous as Butchart Gardens or the Abkhazi Garden is nevertheless well worth a visit. Unlike the two aforementioned gardens, Finnerty Gardens is free. While the pleasant walks are thickly planted with spring-blooming rhododendrons, it has some other nice blooms even at this time of year. Well, even though most of us spell the name of this flower fuschia, Wikipedia informs us that it is properly spelled fuchsia. OK?

Rabbit U

Idyllic woodland scene?

No, this is actually on the campus of my old alma mater, the University of Victoria, on the lawn beside the administration building. Though these bunnies are controversial I think they add a very pleasant quality to the rabbitless campus I left about 25 years ago. Not everybody agrees and there is an ongoing controversy about how to deal with the large (and growing) population of bunnies. There are not just a few - there are hundreds. They are all over the place and are spreading into nearby residential districts. It's an interesting problem that increased empathy and protection for wildlife is likely to make more common in the coming years. As well as the damage the rabbits do to the grounds and gardens (not actually very noticeable) there is some concern that the large numbers will attract cougars from nearby wilderness areas. Here's an article from the New York Times that discusses the situation in a little more depth.

And click here to read what the University has to say about these furry campus residents.