A 103-year-old tree in North Saanich grew from seeds from Flanders Fields. Who planted it?

A more-than-a-century-old European beech tree located in a Vancouver Island park grew from seeds obtained in Flanders Fields, likely during the First World War, and volunteers would like to know how they got there.

Staff who previously worked at Dominion Brook Park in North Saanich, B.C., kept meticulous records of each plant, according to Nancy Johnson, president of the Friends of Dominion Brook Park Society.

The tree in question was planted in 1922 with seeds from Flanders Fields, an area associated with First World War battles in Belgium, and immortalized in the poem by Lt.-Col. John McCrae.

“It would be very interesting … to know how those seeds actually came to North Saanich, who that person was,” Johnson said on CBC's .

Records from the early days of the park, which was then kn