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Flower count encourages reflection of city's beauty

This year's Flower Count runs March 1-7. Anyone is welcome to count blossoms and register at www.flowercount.ca.

Kari Frazer has been counting her flowers every March since she moved to the area 12 years ago.

"I was so excited to move here from Kelowna because it was so warm and there was blossom out year round," said Frazer, an employee of the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific.

Participating in the annual Flower Count presents the perfect way to celebrate nature and "take notice of the beauty around us," Frazer said.

The Saanich resident limits her flower count to her own yard. Blooming right now is heather, hellebores, daffodils, pansies, crocus and hundreds of snowdrops. She estimates there's already 1,000 of blossoms, though she hasn't done her official count yet.

And every new bloom is a surprise.

"I just moved to a new yard, so this is all new," Frazer said. "Whoever was here did a fabulous job … Thank you!"

This year's Flower Count runs March 1-7. Anyone is welcome to count blossoms and register their number on the website, at www.flowercount.ca. Tallies from the region run in the billions every year.

The count is about local pride, and bragging rights, said John Espley, board chair of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event.

The message is intended as a marketing tool both targeted to tourists and to people who might one day relocate to these warmer climes.

"If you know Victoria, most of the people here are not locals. They've moved here from somewhere else," Espley said. "I have relatives back east, so I've had a lot of personal fun using this, and poking at them."