Artists at home
Oak Bay artists open their studios to the public Page A3
NEWS: Firefighters gala benefits school project /A5 SPORTS: Yacht race sets course for June /A7 ARTS: Artist blends beauty with harsh reality /A8
OAK BAYNEWS Friday, April 10, 2015
www.oakbaynews.com
Plan in place for sunken vessels
Garden’s blooms returning to life
Christine van Reeuwyk News Staff
Christine van Reeuwyk News Staff
Like a phoenix, Oak Bay’s most fragrant garden is coming up roses – again. “The rose garden had reached its age a bit. The roses weren’t as prolific anymore,” said municipal gardener Helen Strohschein. “Since the garden’s been built, we’ve come across issues with drainage.” Faced with age, soil-borne disease and improper drainage, the rose garden adjacent to Windsor Park just wasn’t thriving. Several tonnes of new soil and new plants later, they expect to have the garden restored even beyond its former glory. “It’s something that we’ve discussed over quite a few years. The roses have been replaced, some have been there longer periods of time,” said Strohschein. “It’s a heritage site so a top-priority garden. We decided to take an opportunity … Let’s just rethink the whole garden.” As a longtime employee working in the area, she’s seen the patronage, so when given the opportunity to redesign, she thought about the people she’d seen using the space. “My biggest focus was, being there over multiple years, it’s a place that people seem to walk into but they leave very quickly. I wanted to create more of a green space within the garden,” Strohschein said. “I wanted to create spaces people could come in and spread a blanket and sit and
Dan Ebenal/News Staff
Municipal gardener Helen Strohschein plants some new roses at the rose garden in Windsor Park. eat and not feel like they had to get up and go.” Parks expects the complete redesign to finish this week, featuring new bed locations, soil irrigation and 187 new roses all in a new layout. “We’ve dialled down the beds, there will be half the beds there were prior,” said Strohschein. “”We’re
trying to keep the same amount (of roses).” Beds will feature tree roses, and the only original remaining rose will return, a Ruth Alexander climbing rose. They expect loads of blooms by June. cvanreeuwyk@oakbaynews.com
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There is a plan for a pair of sunken boats off Beach Drive. They will stay, settled and soaked adjacent to the Oak Bay Marina, on their registered buoy for 90 days in case the registered owner returns. “Transport Canada typically wants a 90-day waiting period before they’ll destroy them or hand them over to someone else,” said Tim Johnston, owner of C-Tow Victoria. The bulk of his company’s work is towing boats in distress, much like a tow truck for the ocean when someone runs out of fuel or suffers other debilitating fates. On top of that they do salvage work, often for insurance companies, in this case for Transport Canada as the vessels are not insured. The two boats are moored to an official registered buoy, but the owner hasn’t been seen in a very long time. Locals say he became too ill to live aboard his boat any longer. When the boats sank in tandem last month, C-Tow offered some options which included towing and storage at Oak Bay Marina, or in Sooke or Sidney for a certain period of time. The company’s currently been tasked to leave them as is for the 90-day holding period. Then they’ll refloat the boats and revisit the option of towing to land, such as at Cattle Point, for destruction or to a marina for salvage. “There’s at least a plan in place,” Johnston said. “In this case Transport Canada is sort of taking responsibility for it … in a way it falls within their jurisdiction.” Refloating boats and pulling them off beaches is his business, but as an Oak Bay resident with extended family in the community, Johnston also feels a more moral obligation. “A few things I think are solutions is mandatory insurance on all boats,” he said.”Then there comes a point where insurance isn’t going to insure boats because they’re too much of a liability… if a boat’s so far gone it can’t be insured the owner has to be responsible.” He said in a perfect world there would be more enforcement of registration in populated areas. “There should be a paper trail and [you should] be able to find the owner,” Johnston said.
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