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Home > What You Can Do > People in Action > Quiet Companions
People in Action
Quiet Companions
by Yves Gourdeau
I have been paying visits to native plants since I was a child. For me, it's an enchanting experience every time. I take photographs. It's a good way to 'pick' these flowers and offer them to you without destroying them. Why don't you do the same? You will live an emotional experience. Here are a few samples to convince you.
 Trailing arbutus, Epigaea repens.
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"A very fragrant flower that grows in small pink clusters near the last patches of snow in the spring. It's the earliest and prettiest flower. As a child, I would pick these flowers in the small woods near our house in Loretteville, 10 kilometres from the city of Québec." |
My mother, who would have been 125 years old this year, spoke like this. What remains of this memory? I sought out this flower for a long time! It has almost completely disappeared, a victim of its beauty and fragrance. After many years, in 2004, I spotted one in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, between two patches of snow! What a joy! Of course, I let it be.
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis.
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This is another early spring flower. I know of no other plant with such beautiful flowers or such beautiful leaves. It, too, has paid a price for its beauty. Sixty years ago, this flower could be found everywhere on the edge of Cap-Diamant, from the Plaines d'Abraham to Cap-Rouge, Quebec. Today, it takes a long time to find one. Why is it called bloodroot if its colour is white? It secretes a milky sap that is the colour of blood. First Nation people used it to decorate their pottery or paint their faces when they went to war. I found it on Wendake, the Huron reserve in Quebec. Is this a coincidence? |
Starflower, Trientalis borealis.
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This is a white, star-shaped flower. Is this just an ordinary flower to you? Look closely at the picture I've taken. At sunset, laying down flat, I was able to capture the shadow of a star. I was a solitary soul. What a feeling! |
Rosy twisted-stalk, Streptopus roseus.
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Notice the tiny little flowers hidden beneath the small branches. For whom are these flowers, which are related to lilies? For those who know how to look! |
Yellow clintonia, Clintonia borealis.
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This flower keeps in the shadows. It doesn't take to sunlight. It lives in colonies that are sometimes centuries old. I visit the same one since my childhood, in Argentenay on Île-d'Orléans. It flowers only 10 days. |
Pink lady's slipper, Cypripedium acaule.
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Don't look for this flower on the island, where it has almost completely disappeared -- too pretty for the island's sorcerers. I found it along the trails at Duchesnay, in Quebec. A true hiker respects flowers. |
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