It's the Trilliums we all look forward to here in Ontario, but they're actually among the last of the spring wildflowers to bloom here. I doubt they'll be putting on their best display yet, but the way the weather is looking they may well be very soon. Go out in a week or two and you'll see lots of them, as long as you know the right place to go!
Friday, May 13, 2022
Spring Wildflowers, Part 2
Monday, May 9, 2022
Spring Wildflowers in the Woods
If there's a time of year when I miss being able to get out in the woods, it's the month of May. This is the month when the 'spring ephemerals' bloom, those beautiful wildflowers that take advantage of about three weeks when it's warm enough for them to grow but the tree leaves aren't out yet. Lots of light can get to the forest floor and these plants love it!
Dutchman's Breeches is one of these early bloomers, the flower said to look like a Dutchman's breeches hanging on the clothsline.
One of the most unusual, and therefore one of my favourites, is the deep purple Blue Cohosh. It grows so fast during the first warm days in May, literally 3-4" per day, that you can practically see it grow. And no, I didn't arrange these in front of the boulder, they just grew that way!
Saturday, May 7, 2022
The Fox!
I'm glad to report that our resident fox is back. Mrs. F.G. has spotted it more than once and this morning I saw it, first only partly visible below a rise, and then trotting across the golf course. We're hoping it will keep the destructive little rabbits in check! One is repeatedly trying to dig under our shed.
All of these pictures are heavily cropped, but I thought they came out pretty well regardless. At least it does look like a fox.The fox passed behind one of the big old Sugar Maples, in front of one of the golf greens, headed west.
If I got a portrait of the fox, this would be it. I cropped it as much as I felt I could, but even with the big camera it gets blurry.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
A Longer Wheelchair Ride
The other day it was warm enough that I bundled up and headed out for a ride here in town. I went down Nelson St. West, a street I almost gave up on last year because of the 'alligator pavement' which gave me too much discomfort. This year it wasn't bothering me so much, for whatever reason, so maybe I'll be able to ride down here more often. Maybe I'm just learning to tune it out.
Starting down Nelson West I passed this house which sold last year. It appears that the new owner has spent the past several months renovating the house and he's getting to the end of that stage. It looks well done to me. This is one of those five homes on the street over 100 years old built in the original gothic revival cottage style.
One of two old tractors on the street which are most visible in April, and probably haven't moved in more than a decade.
Where they cut down a huge old Sugar Maple last year I was astonished to find a large dense patch of Bloodroot, one of the earliest spring wildflowers in the woods. The old maple must have cast enough shade to provide for good growing conditions.
And just around the corner at the end of the street, my favourite building on the entire ride, this small old barn. It's about the size of my grandparents barn, but much better maintained. Unusually it has an above-ground brick foundation. Probably just the size for 3 or 4 horse stalls and storage for hay above, from the days a century ago when many still kept a horse or two for transportation.
Heading back home I stopped to get a photo of the small stream valley just before the corner. And that was the end of my ride - just getting warmed up for summer!
Sunday, May 1, 2022
We Finally Heard the Spring Peepers!
To finish off our Sunday afternoon drive we continued our search for Spring Peepers, Skunk Cabbage and Sandhill Cranes a little further west and south. We drove up the long Epping hill, straight ahead (past the spot where I was stopped during a pot bust a few years ago), to the 7th Line. Then left two concessions and further west on the 13th Sideroad.
We quickly spotted the Skunk Cabbage, just about spring's earliest flower around here, with its deep purple hood known as the 'spathe' covering the tiny flower inside.And came to Wodehouse Creek, which I've written about often in the past. This was always one of my favourite spots to stop and wander, watching for birds in the past. There's a large beaver pond/wetland just upstream, and there used to be a beautiful stone barn foundation in the back centre of the picture. The Conservation Authority, which owns this property, sold it to be dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt for a new rural garden feature somewhere!
Around the corner we found Wodehouse Creek again, just a mile upstream. It arises in a large spring just a few hundred yards upstream, and falls into the Wodehouse Karst about 4 miles downstream, emerging along the escarpment as a series of springs.
This is a totally nondescript view, but it's a spot just 200 yards up the road where we finally heard the chorus of Spring Peepers, one of the iconic sounds of spring here, and a sound we both love to hear. And it's where we listened for Sandhill Cranes, but unsuccessfully. We have heard them here before in the fall.
Friday, April 29, 2022
Our Sunday Afternoon Drive, Continued
We were down in the swamp when I left you, listening unsuccessfully for frogs calling. But there were several other things that caught my attention. We drove across the narrow bridge and turned at the corner. This is a popular put-in spot for canoeists, in the middle of a canoe route through the swamp, and the parking spots off the road were full - in April!
A nice view of the swamp we were leaving behind.
Along past the swamp and we passed this nice old one-room schoolhouse, now converted to a residence.