Still In This World
Posted: June 7, 2014 Filed under: Ontario, Plant Life, Toronto | Tags: blossoms, computers, dwarf irises, flowers, gardens, irises, spring, Toronto Leave a commentHi people. I’m still alive after my recent break from posting. The old computer suddenly ceased functioning with an electrical short and a puff of the scary scent of electrical burning filling the rooms. Since then I’ve been learning a new system. These dwarf irises are from a Toronto garden in May. Since then great blossoming has taken place. We’ve had daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, redbud trees, magnolias, crabapples and cherry blossoms. These have all gone and now we’re awash with the fading, but still romantic scent of lilacs, lilies of the valley and peonies.
More Spring Dreams
Posted: April 5, 2014 Filed under: Ontario, Plant Life, Toronto | Tags: cold, dreams, flowers, garden, spring, Toronto Leave a commentIt’s very windy and hovering around freezing today. Back to dreams of spring. This is another photo from last year, soon to arrive in Toronto, believe it or not.
Coming Soon to Toronto Gardens
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Ontario, Plant Life, Toronto | Tags: crocuses, dreams, flowers, gardens, spring, Toronto 2 CommentsThe temperature goes up and down as we make our way to warmer weather. I found the following photograph of crocuses that I took in mid April last year. Crocuses have even entered my dreams–I came upon a scene the other night very much like what’s pictured in the photo.
Crocuses in a Toronto garden, April 2013.
Dreaming of Larkwhistle
Posted: January 28, 2014 Filed under: Animal Life, Inspiration, Ontario, Plant Life | Tags: beauty, Bruce Peninsula, cat, flowers, garden, gardeners, John Scanlan, kniphofia, Larkwhistle, Larkwhistle Garden, Ontario, Patrick Lima 5 Comments
Larkwhistle Garden, June 2012, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario
I’m taking a break from the cold and going to Larkwhistle Garden in my mind. Larkwhistle is a terrific garden on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario that has been created and gardened by Patrick Lima and John Scanlan. For decades, they have opened the garden to visitors in the summer. But last year, they decided to end those public visiting days.
Kniphofia at Larkwhistle Garden, 2010
Larkwhistle Garden, September 2010, Ontario
We have gone to this place of beauty for years since travelling to the peninsula and it remains with me in memories of flowers, birds and grace. And with thanks to Patrick and John for what they have created and generously shared.
Larkwhistle Garden’s resident cat, 2010.
Fleabane on the Alvar at Singing Sands
Posted: July 22, 2013 Filed under: Mineral World, Ontario, Plant Life | Tags: alvar, Bruce Peninsula National Park, erigeron philadelphicus, Fleabane, flowers, nature photography, Ontario, Philadelphia Fleabane, Singing Sands, wildflowers Leave a comment
Fleabane growing on the alvar at Singing Sands, Bruce Peninsula National Park, June 2013
While I was on the Bruce Peninsula, I saw many patches of lovely pink/white and yellow flowering Fleabane. The flowers are 1/2 – 1″ wide on a plant 6 – 36″ high. Fleabane is in the aster family. It got its name from the belief that the dried flower heads would get rid of fleas, according to the Audubon Field Guide to Wildflowers. This particular type is, I believe, Philadelphia Fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus. A similar plant called Robin’s Plantain, Erigeron pulchellus seems to have fewer white/pink ray petals. If I’ve gotten this wrong, do let me know.
These shown above are at Singing Sands, on the alvar, the pitted rocks. I learned that alvars only exist in Estonia, Sweden and the Great Lakes Basin. Water from rain or melting snow collects in the rocks’ small depressions along with silt and sand. These provide growing places for plants that are able to live in harsh conditions.
Blue-eyed Grass
Posted: July 13, 2013 Filed under: Ontario, Plant Life | Tags: blue-eyed grass, Bruce Peninsula, Canada, dorcas bay, Dorcas Bay Fen, fen, flowers, nature, nature photography, Ontario, wildflowers Leave a comment
Blue-eyed Grass at the Dorcas Bay Fen, June 2013
On the boardwalk through the Dorcas Bay Fen on the Bruce Peninsula, I also came across tiny Blue-eyed Grass flowers. Lovely gems, blue-purple, growing near their larger showier Iris relatives. The flowers are around a half inch wide and the plant can grow from four to twenty inches high. Their Latin name is Sisyrinchium angustifolium.
Blue-eyed Grass in flower, Dorcas Bay Fen, Ontario, June 2013
Northern Pitcher Plant
Posted: July 11, 2013 Filed under: Ontario, Plant Life, Uncategorized | Tags: Bruce Peninsula National Park, Canada, dorcas bay, Dorcas Bay Fen, fen, flowers, insect eating plants, insects, Lake Huron, leaves, nature, northern pitcher plant, Ontario, pitcher plant, plants, Singing Sands, wildflowers Leave a comment
Pitcher Plant Flower, Dorcas Bay Fen at Singing Sands, Ontario, June 2013
Pitcher Plant with view of the leaves from which plant gets its name, Dorcas Bay Fen, Ontario, June 2013
When I was on the Bruce Peninsula in June, we went to Singing Sands, part of Bruce Peninsula National Park. The Sands are on the Lake Huron side of the peninsula with an expanse of beach and waters that remain very shallow far out. Bordering the Sands are a woodland and fen where I took a short walk on a raised boardwalk and photographed some of the plants growing there.
The National Park signs say that a fen is a wetland with some drainage, often a stream. The Dorcas Bay Fen has much calcium in it, but is low in nitrogen. This makes it a good habitat for plants that get their nitrogen from insects. The pitcher plant is one of those. Insects that are attracted to their flowers may fall into their pitcher shaped leaves or they may be attracted to the coloured lips of the leaves. There, among downward pointing hairs, they are trapped, fall into collected water and drown. Their nutrients are then absorbed by the plant, both by enzymes it secretes and by bacteria breaking down the animal. Adventures of life and death at all levels in nature!
The Northern Pitcher Plant’s Latin name is Sarracenia purpurea. Its sci-fi looking flowers are around 2″ wide and the pitcher leaves can be 4 – 12″ long. The plant ranges in height from 8 – 24″. (Thanks again for these details to my copy of the Audubon Wildflower Field Guide.)
Dorcas Bay Fen in Bruce Peninsula National Park, June 2013
Large Yellow Lady’s Slippers
Posted: July 3, 2013 Filed under: Ontario, Plant Life | Tags: audubon society field guide, Bruce Peninsula, Bruce Peninsula National Park, Canada, cyprus lake trail, flowers, Lady's Slippers, Large Yellow Lady's Slippers, nature, Ontario, orchids, plants, Tobermory, wildflowers Leave a comment
Large Yellow Lady’s Slippers, by a laneway near Tobermory, Ontario, June 2013
When we were on the Bruce Peninsula, the yellow lady’s slippers were in bloom. They were by the roadside, in laneways and in the National Park where they were a delight to see.
Their Latin name is Cypripedium calceolus. They’re members of the orchid family, one of a variety of orchids that the Peninsula is known for. The orchid grows to 8 to 28 inches tall with the yellow lip petal about 2 inches long. This is according to my National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers and to my own observation. Though I did not go out and about with a tape measure!
I’ve included a photo from a laneway near where we stayed and from The Cyprus Lake Trail in the National Park.
Large Yellow Lady’s Slippers in Bruce Peninsula National Park, June 2013
Black Locust
Posted: June 12, 2013 Filed under: Ontario, Plant Life, Toronto | Tags: black and white photography, black locust tree, black locust trees, bloom, blossoms, flowers, June, nature, nature photography, Ontario, spring, Todmorden Mills, Toronto, trees Leave a comment
Black locust blossoms, Toronto, June 2013
Last week, black locust trees were in bloom in Toronto. Their sweet perfume filled the air at Todmorden Mills where I’d walked. I love their profuse, cascading blossoms.
Black Locust tree in bloom, Todmorden Mills, June 2013
Todmorden Mills on a Cool June Evening
Posted: June 6, 2013 Filed under: Animal Life, Ontario, Plant Life, Toronto, Water | Tags: birds, Canada, flowers, irises, June, mood, natural world, nature, Ontario, plants, Todmorden Mills, Toronto, trees, wild phlox, wildflower preserve, woods 2 Comments
At Todmorden Mills, June 5, 2013.
I went to Todmorden Mills in Toronto in the early evening yesterday. It was cool and sunny and my preoccupations of the day left me as I got closer to the trees, freshly mown grass, birds and flowers in this bit of preserved nature. The irony of its being so close to the Don Valley Expressway is never far from consciousness.
Todmorden Mills, June 5, 2013
There’s a wildflower preserve at the site—a short trail through forest by ponds. There I saw yellow and violet irises growing by the water, plus many wild phlox. I came upon a man and his beloved dog having a walk as well as a jogger. Many robins, sparrows, red winged blackbirds and cardinals were with me.
Yellow irises by the pond at Todmorden Mills, June 5, 2013
Iris by a pond at Todmorden Mills, June 5, 2013
In that short hour my mood went from preoccupied and low to extremely peaceful.
Wild phlox in the wildflower preserve at Todmorden Mills, June 5, 2013
of humans and nature 
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