Little Rouge Creek
Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn took place in Rouge National Urban Park, a fantastic place loaded with interesting trails as well as the Rouge and Little Rouge rivers.
St. John’s Wort
I started going on Miles Hearn’s nature walks in early spring and we’ve seen numerous plants as they first emerge in the spring and as they develop and bloom or fruit in summer. I find it challenging to remember all the plants, especially as they look different in different seasons, but there are a number of them I’m now recognizing, such as St. John’s Wort, Maple-leaved viburnum, False spikenard (or False solomon seal), various grasses, a number of trees, rattlesnake root, blood root, chicory and numerous others.
False spikenard
Chicory
Others I recall Miles talking about before, but I failed to recognize on sight. One of these is a species of Vibernum known as Wayfaring tree. Perhaps it is called that because it is often found on roadsides. Today, it was very distinctive with colourful berries, but next spring, will I recognize it? I’m not sure.
Wayfaring Tree
There were a few highlights today for me. One was bottle brush grass. I’ve never noticed this one before.
Another was Knapweed – hey a weed named after my family!
Knapweed
Here’s some of the other plants Miles noted on the walk. Each of these is captioned.
27th Street 