Scotch Broom in the Comox Valley

The Comox Valley on Vancouver Island is popular with retirees and now that I’ve driven through it, I finally get it. It truly is pretty. Driving north from Nanaimo, you pass small communities, older houses, farms, and rolling hills with low mountains to the west. To the east is the Salish Sea.

This time of year, the sides of the roads were covered with Scotch Broom in full bloom. It makes for beautiful vistas, for sure, but you feel a bit guilty about enjoying the view. Scotch Broom is an invasive species introduced to Vancouver Island in the 1850s. It’s caused a lot of havoc, is highly flammable (not great in our wildfire-prone province) and is toxic to livestock.

But here’s a photo of it anyways.