From The Archives - December 2024

As a teen floating around the Lake on my all wood paddleboard I made in the 1960s, I couldn’t help but notice the many flowering lily beds tucked on shorelines.  The bright green pads fashioned as designer plates looked stunning against multi- colored full-open flowers.  Add blue dragonflies whizzing about to get the full effect. 

R. C. Byers, an early Haller Lake pioneer dating to 1910s, was known as the “lily man” not to mention he built his own cabin, cleared land, and replanted trees, shrubs and…25 varieties of lilies.  A story appeared in Sunset magazine “The Lily Grower of Haller Lake” claiming his status.  Our own Shawn MacPherson’s aunt, Anne Segale, told her local kids would sell Mr. Byers lilies at Pike Place Market.

Today many Lake homeowners have the coveted lilies, well, perhaps some are coveted. They spread from Byers's shore front to around the Lake over 100 years.  It’s a tedious job to clear lilies. I’m told people spend several sessions per summer pulling out the long stems to clear a swimming path. We were told as youngsters to stay away from lilies to avoid entanglement, we did.
Shall we call this Beauty and the Beast?  Mr. Byers, we know you meant well, and the naturalist you were still glimmers on Haller Lake.

~Randy Harkness

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