I arrived a bit early for today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn (the final one of this series…there are 4 more coming up in July). I saw Miles, who sent me up a steep trail to have a look at some mushrooms growing from a stump. They were ganodermas.

Wilket Creek Park is a forested treasure within the Greater Toronto Area. It’s located near Edwards Gardens near Leslie and Lawrence. The bird migration is over so there were not so many birds singing as even a couple weeks ago. However, there were so many forest plants to learn about. Here is a sample. I’ve captioned each picture.

Spindle tree

Joe-Pye weed

Bloodroot

Mountain rice grass

Swamp buttercup

Bird’s foot trefoil

Virginia waterleaf

Rattlesnake root

Canada Mayflower

Ox Eye Daisy

Yellow avens

Yellow flag

Rattlesnake weed

Philidelphia fleabane

Christmas fern

Purple flowering raspberry

Red clover

Maple leaved viburnum

False spikenard

I’m beginning to recognize some plants which we’ve encountered in other locations. In some cases, such as with the Virginia waterleaf, we’ve now seen plants before and during bloom. It’s going to take a lot more nature walks and observation for me to learn many of these but I’m heartened that some are sinking in.