Photos taken Monday, April 10, 2018 by Darlene Rainbow.
There must be 200 grape hyacinths there, quite a few daffodils, a smattering of tulips, various kinds of primulas – perennials thanks to Hanno, new brightly coloured annual thanks to Vera.
Edging courtesy of Vera.
Most Sundays, unless there’s a downpour someone is gardening–come join us. Ask questions, pitch in or just walk the labyrinth in silence.
Lots of leaves on the geraniums.
The snow drops and crocuses are gone–at least their blooms are gone–lots of lovely foliage still.
The labyrinths (yes, we have two) are there 24/7 – so you can drop by any time and have a pleasant walk by yourself or with a group. If you’d like to help support the labyrinth with time, funds or plants, contact the Labyrinth Team by email.
Mairy and Mary will host a program for the kids in the First Sunday First Hour. All welcome.
A grounds work party is hosted every month on the third Saturday from 9 am on. Patti provides snacks and advice if desired. If you can help tend the labyrinth at that time, just show up and tell Patti.
Our living labyrinth has been very thirsty in recent days. Without water for nearly a week, I found that the thing about plants growing long roots when you don’t water regularly really is true. I moved a few calendula seedlings and their root was very long, reaching (unsuccessfully) for a drink.
Calendula
There are calendula at all stages from full bloom (and seeds) down to tiny sprouts. The name calendula is related to the word calendar. Timed right for planting and without a really cold winter, we should have calendula blooms all year ’round. Feel free to pick flowers and put in salads or make a massage oil. The more the flowers are picked, the more they put out.
Hardy Perennials
The cranesbill geranium are flourishing in this area. They’ve at least doubled since last year. As I was tending some areas that were crowded a few weeks ago, I accidentally dug up a few small pieces with roots and they seem to be taking hold, even though summer, especially a dry summer is not the best time for propagation.
The unusual flowers and stems on the lamb’s earsare past their prime, so I cut them back in several places.
Succulents
The low-growing sedum is spreading and has pink flowers in some spots. It seems its only problem is too much water, but it can tolerate even the clay soil we still have in various spots.
Sempervivum (hens and chicks) is doing well and spreading. I’m told they’ll spread on their own but you can also plant leaves to spread. I’ll try it and report back.
From reading about the differences between sempervivum and echeveria, I’ve concluded that the tall stalk with flower is sempervivum. They say the plant will die leaving the chicks to carry on. It seems likely the flowering which can be unusual was from the stress of poor soil and/or lack of water. Sempervivum is hardy through frost and echeveria not so much.
I’d love to have an even greater variety of succulents, as they’re perfect for the sunny, dry conditions, so if you have any that are spreading, please bring us some.
Perennial Grasses
Carex ice dance is doing well although some of the smaller plants have withered through lack of water. It would be nice to have some other perennial grasses. I prefer the ones that stay green all year.
Herbs
We have rosemary, sage and three new lavender plants (these on the farthest east circuit). The lavender was donated by a neighbour who had several in a window box and they outgrew their tiny home. Feel free to pinch a bit off to enjoy the scent as you walk. You may find a few chives and mint too, although they will likely be moved. If you want some chives or mint, just ask me though, as they’re spreading in the vegetable garden and I’d love to pass some along. There’s some garlic chives too.
Thyme
Around the central hawthorn tree is a growing blanket of woolly thyme. And on the boulevard Patti sprinkled some creeping thyme seeds a couple of years ago and even without any watering or weeding, they’re holding their own against the grass.
Primulas
The primulas are past their prime but are alive and well and resting for the season.
Self-seeding Annuals
There’s a variety of flowers that have self-seeded.
Spring Bulbs
We have tulip bulbs drying to plant in September and may divide up some of the snowdrops and grape hyacinths at that time. It’s a very hopeful and cheerful place once the spring bulbs of snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinths burst through to wish us happy spring.
Fall Bulbs
We were given some fall bulbs that are planted on the south-eastern area. Hope to see them soon.
Strawberries
The strawberry plants didn’t get enough water to provide much in the way of fruit, but the foliage is quite nice and the ones planted last year are sending out runners. I’ll move some of the borage from the vegetable gardens as it’s recommended as a companion plant that attracts pollinators.
Falling Leaves
You can see that leaves are already dropping once August is here. The thin crunchy ones are great for the black compost bins as bedding for our worms. The thicker ones take a long time to decompose, so put those in the City’s green bins.
Soil Quality
Slowly the quality of the earth is improving as our red wriggler worms do their thing with the compost. Still in some areas the soil is very clay and water does not drain well.
About the Living Labyrinth
The living labyrinth is a double processional style and on the east side of the Unitarian property, adjacent to Fremlin. You can come any time to walk it alone or in a group.
Several church members have taken to walking it before church on Sundays as their meditation.
Want to help?
If you’d like to help tend the labyrinth, donate plants or just pull a few weeds, contact Mary Bennett. There’s much to be done, and you’d be very welcome to join our team, whether you’re involved in the church or not.
Taking a walk on the planted labyrinth, you’ll see a lot more detail than the view from outside.
Here’s what’s showing up on June 15, 2017.Thank you, Darlene, for enjoying walking the labyrinth in the rain in her bare feet and taking these photos as well.
There are strawberries, lambs ears blossoms, geraniums, and the calendulas are just beginning.
Labyrinth: April 29, 2017 Photo: Gail StephanLabyrinth: April 29, 2017 Photo: Gail StephanThe Courtyard Labyrinth is made in this pattern. A 3-circuit Cretan square style. The entrance is by the central doors in Hewett Centre.
There are two new labyrinths in town, thanks in part to Mary Bennett, who says that although walking a labyrinth can be a form of meditation, it’s also a process with a beginning, a middle and an end. Photograph By Dan Toulgoet
From a distance, it can be weird to see people walking by themselves slowly in a circle. Up close, it can still look odd. But when you understand the intention of people pacing a labyrinth, it is charming and enticing.
By definition, labyrinths can often be almost invisible. A new one at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver could be mistaken merely for a nice design in the paving stones of a courtyard. On the other hand, many are elaborate and unmistakable. There are, according to a global database of labyrinths, no fewer than 10 in the city of Vancouver that are open to the public and dozens more throughout the province. But who are the people who find comfort or spiritual fulfilment in this ancient yet unusual pursuit? It’s a diverse group, from pagans to devout Christians, atheists to New Agers.
There are two new labyrinths in town, thanks in part to Mary Bennett, a Vancouver woman who is the former executive director of the Canadian Unitarian Council and a regular at the 49th and Oak Unitarian church. She and two friends stumbled upon the idea of labyrinths about 20 years ago during a women’s spirituality conference.
“People have sometimes described it as a meditative technique that works better for Western people because it’s active rather than sitting passively,” says Bennett. “I find it useful as a kind of walking meditation.”
Another thing that appeals to her is that some of the fundamental labyrinth designs appeared throughout the ancient world at remarkably different locations — Scandinavia, South America and parts of what are now the southwestern United States.
In Greek mythology, Daedalus constructed the first labyrinth to contain the half-man, half-beast Minotaur and nearly got lost in it himself. The point of today’s labyrinths, though, is not to get lost like you might in a corn maze or to replicate a house of mirrors. Most have a single path leading from the mouth to the middle.
The classic Cretan or seven circuit labyrinth is designed like the double-headed axe (“labrys”) of the Minoan mother goddess of Crete. Another of the most common styles is the Chartres labyrinth, which resembles a four-petalled flower, designed in the 13th century at the French cathedral.
Rather more recent are the two labyrinths at the Unitarian church.
“There is a courtyard area that we thought could accommodate a small labyrinth and this year they were replacing some of the concrete there and fortunately somebody remembered that we had had hopes and dreams of having a labyrinth there,” Bennett says. Using concrete pavers, they embedded a labyrinth into the concrete. A second one, on the east side of the church property, will be a garden labyrinth.
“It’s still kind of a work in progress, but you can walk it,” she says of the garden version. “It’s not as beautiful as it will be next year at this time.”
While walking a labyrinth can be a form of meditation, she says, it is also a process with a beginning, a middle and an end.
“What people say, and I do experience this myself, is when you walk into the centre, you could walk in with some kind of phrase on your mind, or an intention,” says Bennett. “But sometimes, and this is what I usually do, just kind of open.”
People will occasionally begin walking with their palms up until they get to the centre. This is a gesture of openness.
“And then in the centre, sometimes, if you have a labyrinth experience,” she says with a laugh, “you receive what I say is… not necessarily an answer to your question or dilemma, but some kind of a response.”
Quite simply, she admits, it is probably just a matter of finding the answer you seek once you quiet yourself.
“Then, on the way out, people sometimes walk turning their hands palm-side-down to kind of ground that intention,” she says.
Bennett does more than just walk labyrinths. She is part of a group called G.L.A.D. — The Gathering for Labyrinth Art and Dance. The group meets the third Thursday of each month — the next one is Sept. 15 — from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Unitarian church.
“The first half-hour is doing art, usually relating to labyrinths, drawing labyrinths, painting labyrinths on stones, making labyrinths out of clay,” she says. Labyrinth art allows you to “walk” a labyrinth with your eyes or trace it with your finger. “Then the second half-hour, if it’s good weather, we go out and walk one of the two labyrinths that have just been put in at the church over the past year and then the last hour is doing circle dancing together.”
Circle dancing is not very proscribed. It is just what it says, a group of people dancing without partners in a circle to music of any sort.
“Most recently, the first dance that I choreographed, I took one of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s songs from her Polaris-winning album ‘Power in the Blood,’ It’s called ‘We are Circling.’ It just called out to be danced to.”
The Unitarians aren’t the only ones in the city getting into labyrinths. At least four Anglican churches in town have labyrinths, including St. Paul’s, in the West End, which does a big celebration around the labyrinth on New Year’s Eve. There are labyrinths in the Renfrew Ravine, in Strathcona Linear Park and at VanDusen Botanical Garden.
“It had a real surge 20 or 25 years ago,” Bennett says of modern humans’ interest in the design and practice, adding that there are probably plenty that almost no one knows about. “People sometimes just install them in their backyard if they got the space.”
Photos taken Monday, April 10, 2018 by Darlene Rainbow.
Our living labyrinth has been very thirsty in recent days. Without water for nearly a week, I found that the thing about plants growing long roots when you don’t water regularly really is true. I moved a few calendula seedlings and their root was very long, reaching (unsuccessfully) for a drink.
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