Board Member Profile: Patrick Kyle

By Patrick Kyle

My interest in native flowers started by taking photos of native flowers in the National Parks and then looking up the names of these flowers in the many books I have acquired over the years.

I am an amateur photographer and amateur naturalist. I was born and raised on a southeast Saskatchewan farm where some native prairie surrounded the farm thanks to road allowances and some pasture land where native flowers grew. 

I worked for Environment Canada Weather Services for over 35 years. I retired in 2006 and have volunteered extensively since then, doing the annual Elk Island flower count at the end of May almost every year since retiring. I took the Edmonton City’s Master Naturalist Program in 2014 and have been participating with the Edmonton Native Plant Society ever since. I have served on the ENPS board for the past five years, and as treasurer since 2022. I have done numerous presentations on native flowers, and on Elk Island flower survey results in relation to climate data (both the effect of seasonal weather, as to temperature and rainfall, on the yearly count, as well as a look at the change in flower counts over the past 20 years).

I now grow over 60 different species of native plants and shrubs in my yard. My favourite flowers are lady’s-slippers and gaillardias.