Rural

We hiked upward as the trail wove its way through the cedar and bushes in the moist areas and walked between giant moss covered boulders that must have been perched there for centuries, silent sentinels at the head of old logging trails. The ground levelling and then swelling like waves in the ocean... until a flotilla of nodding yellow petals with bright chunky green leaves glowed on an otherwise barren landscape plateau. Filling our gardener's post winter weary hearts to overflowing. Color, and masses of it, bright, cheerful, and exotic enough to make us pause for as long as we could. Glacier lilies...are a wildflower known to grow even under a coat of snow, these dainty yellow lilies are native to the Okanagan, and various other areas in the region. They're hardy, little plants surviving the cold temperatures we get here down to  -35 C or colder in our Canadian winters. They're even rportedly local bear's first meals after waking up from hibernation.