Dunbar Residents Association News and Events

UPDATE June 2006
The library project is now complete.

UPDATE October 2002
Money is coming in…a team of willing volunteers is waiting…who will step forward to be the coordinator and take our Library Square project forward to Phase Two? Contact 604.222.9824 or email. – Oct 2002

UPDATE October 2002
Gardeners make the Library Square bloom (from Sharon Slack) A generous donation from local gardeners will provide a real boost to the little Library Square that is being built on Dunbar Street. Dunbar-in-Bloom donated $383.00 to the DRA Library Square Project. Organizer Sharon Slack reports that these were the proceeds from map sales and plant sales during the Dunbar-in-Bloom garden tours as part of Salmonberry Days in May.

The Dunbar Residents’ Association, with the help of a matching grant from the Vancouver Parks Board, is slowly improving the front courtyard of our much-used library at 29th and Dunbar.

The building itself was designed in 1950 by architect Doug Shadbolt. The committee working on the improvements is trying to enhance that design by carefully choosing the plantings and street furniture that go into the courtyard area.

In November, an Eddie’s White Wonder dogwood was put in because of its local significance historically. This tree was developed by Henry Eddie, who for many years had a nursery down by Marine Drive at the end of 41st Ave. The last remaining tree in his nursery in the Vedder Canal was the only survivor of a disastrous flood, and the progeny from that tree are growing in boulevards and gardens all over the lower mainland to this day.

The dogwood is known for its large blossoms and colourful fall foliage as well as its resistance to disease. It can be pruned to control its growth without harm to the tree.

The perennials around the tree were chosen by a local landscape designer, Vivien Clarke.

The benches were built by Jon Ellis, a former member of the DRA Board, and are of laminated cedar, which will weather to a nice gray colour and never need painting.

The ambiance of the corner is being maintained by Ray Poulter and a number of residents who pick up the stray papers, cigarette butts and beverage containers whenever they water the plot. All of these people agree that fast food eaters and cigarette smokers are slobs who have no idea how their careless tossings can quickly ruin public areas for those who are walking and shopping there. An effort is being made to convince the City to place three more garbage containers at the intersection.

The person in charge of the library improvement project was former DRA president the late Peter Kendall, shown here making the first cutting for the planted area. Walter Lanz, work party foreman, is looking on.

Look up on a summer evening and there they are, entertaining us with amazing aerial acrobatics. Dunbar’s Dragonflies, and closer to the ground, Damselflies, are making short work of our mosquitoes and no see ums. Fossil records from around the world indicate that giant Dragonflies with wing spans of over 30 inches were dive bombing through the coal forming forests of the CARBONIFEROUS period 320 million years ago. Except for their size Dunbar’s Dragons have changed very little over the millions of years of flying on this planet. How do we tell a Dragonfly from a Damselfly? It’s quite easy! Big Dragonflies like to hunt for insects, higher in the sky and Damsels, low over water. If you are very patient you will that when they stop to rest for a moment in the sun our Dragonflies hold their beautiful wings outstretched, while Damselflies fold them above their bodies. In our backyard pond, deep in the mud, are Dragonflies and Damselflies in the larval stage. They pop up and eat everything in sight and about now we watch as some larvae pull themselves out of the water and over about a half hour moult their skin, spread out new wings and then disappear into a new world of the sky. Over the years we have become Dragon People, watching and waiting every day for some Dragon Event to happen. Yesterday a squadron of over 40 Canadian Darners Dragonflies patrolled the sky over our pond; what they were up to besides catching those mosquitoes is anyone’s guess. In a few weeks time we will again be amazed as female Dragonflies and Damselflies will swoop over our pond to lay their eggs that will again begin a new cycle of life for DUNBAR’S DRAGONS.

A GOOD BOOK ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES IS Dragonflies of British Columbia and the Yukon by Robert A. Cannings. Look for it at the Dunbar Library.