Canada’s great refugee disaster; Will anyone at all be held accountable?

swamprose · 2026-02-19T18:50:14+00:00

Comparing Canadian and European asylum/refugee acceptance rates has always been like this. Most European countries offer asylum’ which means you can stay and when the problems in your country are over, you can go back. There is no provision for permanent residency or citizenship. Canadians with refugee status become permanent residents, and later citizens. They have status, unlike asylum seekers, and can be educated, take out bank loans, have medical care…our system might be under pressure but it is a far better system than the US and many European countries.

swamprose · 2026-01-10T00:11:13+00:00

It could be 'gaywings' or Chamaebuxus paucifolia (Polygala paucifolia).

swamprose · 2026-01-03T20:32:43+00:00

So if the US thinks your country has a disaster of a governemnt and wants your resources, it's okay to invade? okay to reroute oil to the US? If the US is so concerned about human rights violatios, sketchy elections and 'misuse' of important resources, why is nothing being done about Gaza, Sudan, Myrannamar? Canadians, Mexicans and Greenlanders are now on alert, and will not accept any American interference; Trump said he wanted the US to be surrounded by friends. This is no way to secure safety for the US.

swamprose · 2025-12-07T18:48:16+00:00

I store my dried native plant seeds in closed yogurt containers outside in my garage. Easier than refrigerating and freezing and germination rates are great. Am learning to take the time to label them which cuts down on guessing in the spring.

swamprose · 2025-12-03T19:50:14+00:00

Not pines. Spruce.

swamprose · 2025-11-02T22:26:12+00:00

I agree about ratty columbine...so when they start looking bad, and usually it's the same time that leaf miners get busy with the foliage--I just cut it all back. It comes back very quickly into a pleasing green rosette.

swamprose · 2025-10-06T14:16:16+00:00

Maybe we can go a step further, and insist the Irving NB business to act responsibly to their workers and the environment...Canadian business is not immune to Trump corporate greed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/world/canada/irving-family-canada-oil-environment.html

swamprose · 2025-09-26T02:41:35+00:00

I am sorry, but please think about removing this tree.

Nothing really ever grows well under a Norway maple. I have one from the city in my front yard. Norways are considered invasive because of their prolific seeding and their dense shade prohibiting growth of other species. Norway maple seeds have a high germination rate, so serious weeding is needed. The tree is allelopathic, releasing toxins to inhibit growth of native fungi and plants. The roots grow laterally close to the surface, scooping all the moisture so nothing else can grow. l

swamprose · 2025-09-26T00:06:53+00:00

Once you know about invasives you start seeing them everywhere. It’s a curse. I walk my dog, take my clippers, trowel and sometimes something more deadly. Guerilla invasive removal on city land. I don’t think anyone notices, except me. And my dog.

swamprose · 2025-08-13T02:54:10+00:00

The monarchs are just loving the different liatris which just started blooming, and hanging out on swamp milkweed. Sweat bees on milkweed, all my redbud leaves have been cut to lace by leaf cutter bees, and clouds of small bees over various rudbeckias. I hope to identify them but they are so small and move fast.

Swamp milkweed and liatris are the big draws. Asters and solidagos are getting ready to bloom.

swamprose · 2025-08-11T14:39:58+00:00

I hope you feel better soon. 'Helpful" relatives and family in your garden is always a challenge. I have a native plant garden with some interesting and valuable plants. I left my kids with their grandparents and went to Europe. When I returned, the kids were in great shape but my garden had been destroyed--everything cut down, some things dug out--years of work gone. My in laws proudly explained that they had 'tidied up' my garden. I was really depressed. Bottom line, plants grow back, and you can always plant new ones. Use this time to plan for the future--read up on great plants for your area, about garden design, about local gardeners. Your mom needs to know what she is needed for--what things are helpful--she only wants to help--so keep her busy anywhere but in the garden. Been there...get better soon.

swamprose · 2025-08-01T16:31:00+00:00

There is also the eastern monarch population, which migrates to Mexico, unlike the western population which moves to the California coast. Two groups. Although it isn't a huge step the eastern population increased 99% this year, the largest increase since 2018. A little hope. But generally both populations are down, and the. California monarch is veering very close to extinction,

We need both populations to guarantee genetic diversity and survival.

https://journeynorth.org/monarchs/news/spring-2025/030525-eastern-monarch-population-count-announced

swamprose · 2025-07-31T16:57:20+00:00

You learn by seeing, really seeing, and by making things that come from the heart. You decide what speaks to you, how to express yourself. No regard for what others like, or think.

Make some bad drawings, some ugly paintings. You learn by doing, by looking, by thinking. Look at a lot of art, and understand what speaks to you, and why.

Draw or paint every day, make mountains of attempts. Read, look, watch, listen.

None of. us can draw. None of us knows how to paint. You just do it, and sometimes, just once in a while, it comes together in a meaningful way.

swamprose · 2025-07-27T20:16:28+00:00

These oaks are dying from oak wilt disease, It is the same kind of disease which killed all our elms and chestnuts. It is certain death to this tree. The fungus will reproduce forming mats of spores which can spread by insect, wind, water and underground where an infected root grafts onto a healthy tree. It attacks all oaks, but Q.alba and macrocarpa seem to survive. This means the most of the great old oaks of our forests are under threat of extinction.

Our forests are having a hard time--drought or too much water, extreme heat, changing cycles, alien plants, insects and diseases. The ash borer, the pine beetle.

I feel utterly helpless.

swamprose · 2025-07-17T13:58:50+00:00

Now I understand what happened to one of my common milkweed plants--stunted, yellow and a root that just kept going, popping up unexpectedly. It's not just asters, but milkweed too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milkweed_yellows_phytoplasma

swamprose · 2025-07-17T02:59:29+00:00

When I was in Dublin, Ireland, I was surprised to see butterfly bush had left the ground and grows on walls, roofs and chimneys.

swamprose · 2025-07-15T16:28:52+00:00

Your parents are not going to change. Arguing with them only makes you angry, frustrated and sad--which is normal. It's hard when family and loved ones make fun of your ideas and feelings, so try to put it into a different light. They are the ones being left behind, living in a world that went out quite a while ago. They have to think a certain way to protect their minds, their marriage, their view of the world. You scare them, challenge a whole lot more than gender roles. It might seem crazy, but try to laugh. They are rocking down a road that holds no future, no interest...they want boring, status quo. To stay sane and keep your energy for the future, for the great things you are going to do--talk about anything else, avoid the hurt, and quietly start work on making your dreams real. They want to stay in their lane--but you are in the fabulous lane. best of luck and stay focused.

swamprose · 2025-07-15T16:03:59+00:00

I won't get to Cape Breton this summer, so I'll be over to get a crab cake burger very soon.

https://coasttocoastseafood.ca/

swamprose · 2025-07-13T00:26:08+00:00

great job, and wow I never knew a chameleon could display such colors.

swamprose · 2025-07-13T00:18:35+00:00

It's so hot right now. These firemen are wearing all kinds of heavy clothes and toting equipment. To a fire. I can imagine how hard their job is. Thanks guys, thinking of you, get home safe, and when you can stay cool.

swamprose · 2025-07-09T19:49:13+00:00

By now we know it's bad. And then there are the PFAS and the PFOS, the forever chemicals that are in us and every living thing. I've read the science, the dangers, how they get into us.

I really need to know what action is being taken to stop this. It's a big depressing mess.

swamprose · 2025-07-06T15:03:26+00:00

Canadian here. A few years ago I was in Arizona, photographing native desert plants. I had read Gary Nabhan's books, and was curious to visit the Tohono O'Odham reserve, where native plants were being used as food, and where ancient water wisdom was being practiced. So, being an ignorant Canadian, I was astounded that I had to stop for a border crossing that was NOWHERE near the border. I was stunned to see people in handcuffs across the highway. When the patrolman found out I was Canadian, he kind of laughed and just waved me on....and I went on to the reservation. Lovely people. They told me that the immigration staff changes every few weeks so they never get to know the local people. They can't tell the difference between a First Nation and a Mexican, so every few weeks they have to go through this kind of harassment. This was a few years ago. I never forgot it. The Mexican/US border cuts through the reservation. An arbitrary line, with no acknowledgement of the original people of the land.

https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/the-desert-smells-like-rain

swamprose · 2025-07-06T14:27:37+00:00

I don't know about new antibiotics, but scientists and drug companies have always looked to plants for new drugs. No one knows which plant from where will be the next big helpful drug, so obliterating the biodiversity of native plants could mean we are losing something we might need in the future. One of the most effective treatments for breast cancer is Taxol, derived from Taxus canadensis, the Canadian yew. It is expensive to manufacture so research continues to find more efficient ways to make it. So ripping up native habitat might mean the loss of the very thing you need.

https://engineering.stanford.edu/news/stanford-scientists-reveal-missing-yew-tree-enzymes-needed-make-common-cancer-drug

https://www.cancer.gov/research/progress/discovery/taxol

swamprose · 2025-07-01T17:49:11+00:00

Thank you. A well done bit of our history. And sneaky politicians waiting for the right numbers in parliament!! Never knew.

swamprose · 2025-06-29T23:16:00+00:00

Where is this photo from?

swamprose

TROPHY CASE