Sunday, October 28, 2018

Friday Flowers Correction and the List

            Apparently I made an error in counting for the Friday flowers. There were only 60 instead of 61. In defence, I have several locations and times on the same list and I misread my notes when I tried to sort out just the Friday finds. Following is the  list of 60 flowers that I found:

1Alyssum, Hoary *
2Aster, Azure (Sky Blue)
3Aster, Heath
4Aster, New England
5Aster, Panicled
6Aster, White Wood
7Beggar Tick
8Bindweed, Hedge (Hedge False Bindweed)
9Bugleweed, Rough
10Bugloss, Viper's *
11Bur-Marigold, Nodding
12Butter-And-Eggs *
13Catnip *
14Chamomile, Scentless *
15Chickweed, Common * 
16Chicory, Wild *
17Cinquefoil, Dwarf
18Clover, White Sweet *
19Crown-vetch, Purple *
20Dandelion, Common *
21Dandelion, Red-Seeded *
22Dogwood, Red-Osier (S)
23Dogwood, Silky (Pale)(S)
24Evening Primrose, Common
25Fleabane, Lesser Daisy
26Galinsoga *
27Galinsoga, Small-Flowered
28Goldenrod, Blue-Stemmed
29Goldenrod, Canada
30Goldenrod, Late
31Goldenrod, Tall
32Horehound, Water
33Indian Tobacco
34Knotgrass, Common *
35Knotweed, Japanese *
36Lady's Thumb, Spotted *
37Madder, Wild (Bedstraw) *
38Nightshade, Bittersweet *
39Nightshade, Eastern Black
40Ox-Tongue, Hawkweed *
41Pea, Everlasting *
42Pokeweed
43Queen Anne's Lace *
44Ragweed, Common
45Ragweed, Perennial (Western)
46Shepherd's Purse *
47Silverweed
48Smartweed, Pale or Nodding
49Smartweed, Water
50Snakeroot, White
51Snowberry
52Sow Thistle, Common *
53Sow Thistle, Field *
54Spurge, Petty *
55Tansy *
56Touch-Me-Not, Spotted
57Wall-Rocket, Narrow-Leaved * 
58Witch Hazel
59Wormwood, Sweet *
60Yarrow, Common *

One more flower from Friday:





Saturday, October 27, 2018

Friday Flowers and Wanderings

            At the RBG, we have been waiting for a new freezer for weeks now. We use the freezer to attempt to keep our pressed flower collections bug free. There have been many delays and I just heard that we will be getting a smaller freezer as the one ordered just will not go through the doors. Anyway, without a freezer to work with, I have had more time to look for flowers on Fridays and have been able to get home earlier too.

           Yesterday, I was able to find 61 wild flowers in bloom. I don't bother counting the many, many flowers that are planted in the various gardens. There are still many, many roses in bloom in the rose garden as well as others that have been planted this year.

            Below is one of the flowers that I found and photographed yesterday. I found this plant blooming for the first time this year on June 15th. It is still going strong and will probably continue until covered with snow. I have found it blooming until December in past years.


            It is a small flower in real life. It is smaller than the smallest fingernail on my hand. In addition, there is another flower that looks almost exactly like it, Small-flowered Galinsoga, that one almost needs a hand lens to see.

            The other interesting observation from yesterday was the Pumpkin Trail that was set up by the RBG. The staff carved over 200 pumpkins and placed them along some of the trails in the area of the Rose Garden and the Hendrie Valley just behind the Rose Garden. I was told that over 5000 people came to visit and walk the trails on Thursday and Friday. Below is one photo from the Hendrie Valley trail:



Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Herb Robert



Herb Robert \ 
Géranium de Robert \ 
(Geranium robertianum) ...

is one of my favourite wild flowers. Here in southern Ontario I have found it in bloom from May to December. Primary blooms are in the spring but it blooms, off and on, for the rest of the time until the snows come.

            Several years ago, when I took a foundations art course at a local art school, I did a special project on the Herb Robert. I made sketches, elaborate drawings, watercolours, a large acrylic painting (just over a metre on each side) and a wire sculpture of the Herb Robert as well as many photos. I am not sure where the photos are right now and my other pieces are in various locations but below are two more recent photos of the flower:










Sunday, October 21, 2018

Some Early Fall Wild Flowers


Bittersweet Nightshade \
Morelle Douce-amère \
(Solanum dulcamara)
Flowers and fruit seen last Friday
along with 70 other species
of wild flowers still blooming.


Wild Strawberry \
Fraisier des Champs \
(Fragaria virginiana) 

Blooming again!


Witch-hazel
aka American Witch-hazel
Hamamélis de Virginie
(Hamamelis virginians)



Sticky Groundsel \ 
aka Sticky Ragwort \ 
Séneçon Visqueux \ 
(Senecio viscosus)



Sunday, October 14, 2018

Some Fall Colours



I did another  l o n g  training run yesterday for my attempt at a marathon in November. I ran 36.7 k on trails along the Grand River. I had support for the last 20 k from another runner in my running group, Ian Slater. As I ran the first 16 k on my own, I saw three deer and managed to get a photo of one with my iPhone.




During the morning, while I was out running, Fleur-Ange got this wonderful photo of a Blue Jay just outside our kitchen window at our bird feeder.



The fall colours do not seem a bright as some years but Fleur-Ange and I both enjoyed the colours just east of our house as we had our morning coffee on the east porch.




I used the telephoto lens on the Canon camera to shrink the distances among these trees and I think the colours were increased too. This is from the north ravine trail on our property.





Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Tuesday Sunrise



I put this photo up on Instagram and Facebook and got more interest than any other photo that I have recently shared so I thought I should share it here too so I can find it when I want to. Photos on Instagram usually stick around but Facebook is notorious for always moving things around so one cannot find what one is looking for. (Have I ended enough sentences in prepositions to make all of my English teachers turn over in their graves?)




Saturday, October 06, 2018

Friday Flowers




On my October 5th wild flower walks in the Hamilton area, I walked in the Royal Botanical Garden's Arboretum "wild" trails and along the Hamilton Waterfront Trail near Princess Point. During the walk I found 71 wild flowers in bloom and was able to identify 70 or them. The one that I could not identify was growing in the middle of a patch of Poison Ivy. It looked like a polygonum of some sort but it did not match any of the plants in my book.

Following are some of the plants that I photographed:

Calico Aster
Aster Latériflore
(Symphyotrichum lateriflorum)




 New England Aster with close up lens
Aster de Nouvelle-Angleterre
(Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)


 Wild Chicory
Chicorée Sauvage
(Cichorium intybus)


Indian Tobacco
Lobélie Gonflée
(Lobelia inflata)


Jimsonweed
Stramoine Commune
(Datura stramonium)



Jerusalem Artichoke
Topinambur
(Helianthus tuberosus)




The Jerusalem Artichoke leaves and stems are known for their extreme roughness as one can see in the photo.




Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Mount Douglas - September 19



On our first full day in Victoria, British Columbia, I went exploring near the house where we were staying with friends. Within a 20 minute walk I found what the locals call "Mount Doug". The trail map, which I did not have at the time, shows some of the many trails that lead up and around the "mountain". It was only 225 metres (738 feet) tall but quite rugged in spots. The trails marked in  yellow below show my route up and back on that first climb.





According to Wikipedia, "The aboriginal Saanich and Songhees people called the mountain Pkols [pq̕áls], meaning "White Head" in Senćoŧen dialect." There is an appeal to try to get the original name back on the records.

At the base of the mountain there were many tall Douglas Firs, Bigleaf Maples and Cedars as well as a variety of smaller trees. They were impressive but it was impossible to capture the feeling of them with a camera.






Below are two views from the top of Mount Douglas.