For the longest time, I though larch and tamarack trees were the same. I’ve learned that they share a genus but are different species. Larch = Larix occidentalisTamarack = Larix laricina An easy way to tell which is which is to look at the cones.… Read More
There are still quite a few berries around. Here are 3 we came across on today’s nature walk with naturalist Miles Hearn, at Ashbridges Bay on the east side Toronto. These beautiful orange berries are Sea Buckthorn. They are edible and some people use them… Read More
I’m used to seeing field sow thistles as summer wildflowers. They grow tall and spindly and look kind of like dandelions on steroids. I wasn’t sure what this was when I saw it – low to the ground, with gorgeous magenta foliage. Fortunately, we were on one of Miles Hearn’s excellent nature walks, and Miles assured me this was a sow thistle.
I snapped these at Humber Bay East today.
Dawn Redwoods were thought to be extinct until specimens were found in China in the late 1940s. The ones in High Park were apparently gifts from the Chinese government.
It was only a month or so ago, we were seeing so many varieties of asters in full bloom. Now, they’ve all gone to seed. These are New England Aster.
In High Park, the wood ducks are used to people and many times you can see them close up. When I was there mid-week with Miles Hearn’s nature walk group, there was also a group of noisy kids around this little pond, though (they were… Read More
Those tan colour blobs are slime mould. These fascinating single-celled organisms used to be classed as fungi but now are no longer considered to be part of the fungal kingdom. George Barron characterized them as “a slimy mass of protoplasm called a plasmodium. Most of… Read More
We have a few different varieties of goldenrod in the Toronto area. This is Canada Goldenrod (with a bee near the top of the plant).
