Lily

This Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) usually blooms in mid-July but was looking beautiful in the wild part of Hamilton/Burlington's Royal Botanical Garden yesterday and other reports had it blooming the day before by the Grand River near Paris, Ontario.

Global Warming Effects

This Blue Vervain is the 64th species of plant that I have found blooming earlier than normal in the season this year. Like for many others, my earliest previous record for it's blooming is a week later. I have been keeping records for 26 years on a casual basis with more emphasis taken during the last 10 years. I assume that it is global warming that is responsible for so many plants blooming earlier and earlier and then blooming longer into the fall and early winter. I now have records of plants blooming during every month of the year here in Ontario, Canada.

Mountain Visit

Églantine and Ontario Wanderer spent much of the first third of June in Italy walking, hiking, and climbing in the Dolomites which are part of the Italian Alps. Please have a look at our Flickr sites for photos posted after June 18. There will be more photos on Flickr from our adventures for the next week or two at least. Our first photos on Flickr are at the following URL's.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eglantine/565945441/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ontario_wanderer/564462667/