Archive for the ‘along the roadside’ Category
a spring drive
My husband and I love to go exploring the New Brunswick countryside. We have been on most roads in southern New Brunswick. Mud is no barrier, because we have a Toyota Tacoma as transportation.
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Our purposes for these drives are many. Time together is the main goal. I am interested in waterways and botany. My husband is interested in woodlands, exercise, and collecting recyclable bottles and cans from the ditches.
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Our drive last week was on Highway 625 from Cross Creek (near Stanley) to Boisetown. This is a rough gravelled road, marked as ‘Closed to Through Traffic’ this time of year, due to water and mud on the road.
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The road is through woods, mostly hardwood, and features the now abandoned community of Mavis Mills.
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Among the various hardwood species present are yellow and white birch, red and sugar maple, ash, and poplar. The poplar were flowering and hanging with catkins, much to the dismay of my nasal passages (I am allergic to certain plant pollens).
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The road crosses a few large streams and the Taxis River.
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The community of Mavis Mills once included a lumber mill and camp, a post office and a train stop. The community was named by a lumberman for his daughter, Mavis Mobbs. The community had a post office from 1922 to 1928. The 1921 Census shows a boarder and miller, John Mobbs, in Stanley Parish and below his name a mill camp with 31 men. Every evidence of the community is now gone, except a two-track road and remnants of a one-time flower garden. We visited there in the summer of 2020 when I was working on my poetry collection about abandoned communities and the remains of their flower gardens. The garden we found here has a healthy population of golden Alexanders, Zizia aurea, and other flowers. For a glimpse of the other garden plants and more of Mavis Mills’ history, see my post by searching the term ‘Mavis Mills.’
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On our April drive I only photographed one herbaceous flowering plant, coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara. It fills some roadside ditches in early spring and many people confuse it with dandelion. Unlike dandelion, coltsfoot blooms before its leaves appear and has scaly, leafless stems. For more about coltsfoot and my poem about the plant, see https://janetims.com/?s=coltsfoot
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The best part of our drive was our picnic beside a small stream. We had cheddar cheese, smoked turkey sandwiches, and ginger snaps. The sound of water over stones was our dinner music.
Hope you go on some explorations of your own this spring and summer.
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All my best,
Jane
daisy, daisy
In the new book, A Child’s Botanical Alphabet, by Jennifer Houle, D is for daisy. So simple a flower, but one to be loved. Where I live in New Brunswick, this third week of June, the daisies are blooming along the edges of the road and in the meadows. Pull off the petals to ask a question: loves me, loves me not …
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The common daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) lives in ditches, meadows, fields, and other disturbed areas. The flower head consists of long white ray florets and small yellow disc florets. Where they grow wild, the flowers are arranged in perfect symmetry, each daisy head set apart from its neighbours.
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Hope you take a moment to enjoy the gush of wildflower bloom this time of year!
All my best,
Jane
plants in the city landscape
I live near Fredericton, New Brunswick, known for its green space and its many large trees. Lately I have been noticing how beautiful parts of the city are: most are plantings with lots of human intervention but they add to the beauty of the city as we drive around. Have a look at the photos I took as we went on a special drive today.
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We began our drive on the north side of the city, off Union Street, on Station Road, near the end of the walking bridge. On the steep bank along the street is a stunning wall of flowers, all creeping phlox, in pink, white and purple with a touch of red.
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Our second stop was a bit further along the road (Highway 105), near the end of the Princess Margaret Bridge, almost in front of the Ramada Inn. It is a common sight, a phone pole covered with Virginia creeper, but I think it is a masterpiece of streetscape.
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Afterwards, we crossed the river to the south side and stopped to photograph some very tall cedar trees against the side of a building on Prospect Street.
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Their size and dimensions are amazing.
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The highlight of our drive was a visit to the Agriculture Farm on Lincoln Road. Most years, we drive to see the azaleas in bloom and this year, they did not disappoint. Not far from the azaleas is a row of trees where I had my wedding gown photos taken back in 1980.
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If you live in the Fredericton area, please go and see some of these lovely places. I live in and love the rural area, but our city streetscapes can be joyful.
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All my best!
Jane
summer drive
We are so lucky to live in New Brunswick. Driving down any road is a kaleidoscope of flowers, especially in June. We have green hills, streams and rivers gushing after our recent rains and lots of wild life to see. And we have river ferries!!!!
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Today we drove home from our camp by way of the Gagetown ferry. It’s only been operating a few days but we have ridden the ferry so many times it feels like a cruise on the river.
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In the Gagetown area, there are lots of osprey nests to see. This time of year there is usually at least one adult, sometimes two, feeding young chicks.
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We do not have road runners, but we have road crossers. Last week we watched as an American bittern ran across the road, its neck stretched forward parallel to the ground as it ran. Today we saw a woodcock walking slowly across the road, not concerned in the least about the truck or the photographer. Unfortunately, the photographer lacks skill but you can see the woodcock’s short legs and his long beak over his right shoulder …
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And, this week, there are the roses (Rosa spp.), pink and fragrant. Some with a single whorl of five petals. Some doubled and redoubled.
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And other flowers:
bladder campion or maidenstears (Silene vulgaris), with deeply-notched petals and red-veined inflated calyx …
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bedstraw (Galium sp.) grows in mounds in the ditches, with leaves in whorls and white flowers …
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and lupins (Lupinus sp.), crowding the ditches in pink, blue and purple and occasionally white, already setting seed …
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Looking forward to many drives this summer. I know that gasoline is expensive, but this is my entertainment of choice.
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All my best,
Jane
wildflowers in the ditches
The season certainly flies by! This week I am noticing the flowers in the ditches. Daisies, bedstraw, vipers bugloss, sweet clover, yarrow and so on. Today I am curious about a white flower occurring in soft low mounds along the highway. Bladderwort campion or maidenstears.
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Bladderwort campion, Silene vulgaris, is a kind of faerie-tale flower, because of its bladders, small enough to be used by the faerie-folk to transport their drink. The alternate name ‘maidenstears,’ is also fanciful. The flowers are white, sticking above the top of a red-veined bladder. Reminds me of newly-bought vegetables poking above a grocery store paper bag.
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The bladder is made of fused sepals. The flower has five petals, each deeply divided into two lobes. Bladderwort campion is common, found in ditches, meadows and other waste places.
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Scanning the ditches for new plants is a habit I developed in my early days as a botanist. Even now I keep a list, in my head, of the plants I see as we drive along any road. A pleasant pass time for summer!
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All my best,
Jane
northern bush honeysuckle
There are always surprises waiting for me in our lane. Today, it was a wild plant I haven’t seen for a while, although it is quite common. The name ‘lonicera’ popped into my head, because it brings true honeysuckle to mind.
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This plant is Diervilla lonicera, northern bush honeysuckle. It is a low-growing native shrub with opposite leaves that turn red in fall. The flowers are honeysuckle-like: each flower is a yellow tube with 5 lobes, 5 extended stamens and a single pistil. Fertilized flowers take on a reddish tinge. The plant provides browse for moose and deer, nesting habitat for birds and nectar for bumblebees.
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The flowers have a sweet scent and are persistent once established. I can look forward to many years of bush honeysuckle in our lane.
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Keep your eyes open for new plants you may see!
All my best,
Jane
hiding in the leaves!
On our return from our cabin last week, I saw something dark among the leaves of an old birch tree. I put the truck in reverse, in time to see two turkey vultures take off. Their red featherless heads and white beaks were in full view. A third vulture was in the tree and we managed one camera shot before he spread his wings and flew after his companions. The photo shows his glossy feathers, his red head and his huge nostril. But his white beak is hidden behind a leaf!
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Thirty years ago, turkey vultures were a rarity in New Brunswick, but today they are common and even overwinter here. They are exclusively carrion-eaters and play a role in our food chain and nutrient cycle.
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All my best
Jane
roses by the road
A few years ago, we trimmed out the bushes all along our cabin road, to prevent our truck from getting scratched. During the trimming, my husband saved a small prickly rose bush near to the road edge. Each spring we watch for the pale pink of its blooms. Each fall, we count the red rose hips as we drive by. This year, the bush has grown as tall as me! Today, it was covered with pale pink roses and smelled so sweet!
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This is the swamp rose (Rosa palustris), a common wild rose in New Brunswick. You can recognize it by its pale pink flowers, its hooked spines, and its narrow stipules (winged sheaths at the bases of leaf stalks). In fall, it will have small round red rosehips.
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All my best,
Jane
ice falls
Last weekend we took a drive along Highway 8 from Fredericton to Boisetown, a relatively new road to bypass Marysville and the older winding road along the Nashwaak River. For some of its length, the highway has been carved through bedrock and includes several impressive road cuts. I find these interesting because they show the geological formations in the bedrock. In winter, they are beautiful, a result of the frozen curtains of runoff and overland flow.
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Some of these cuts show thick ice flows, frozen waterfalls and dripping icicles.
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Most are browning in colour, probably from inclusion of sediments, but some are clear and blue.
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In a few places, it’s possible to look through gaps in the flow, and get a glimpse of the still, cold spaces lurking just out of sight.
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curtain of ice
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frozen land drools, and water
follows contours of rock
encounters cold, sculpts
cataracts and waterfalls, builds
frozen walls, solidifies
panes of glass, stitches
curtains of frost and filigree
icicle knives
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behind the curtain are caves
spaces where light glimmers,
diffuse where whispers shiver,
muted, protected from wind
glimpse inward layers
through flaws in rigid curtains
frosted shards of rock
icicle knives
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For more on ice falls, including another poem, see
https://janetims.com/2012/03/10/snippets-of-landscape-ice-falls-on-rock-walls-2/
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My best always,
Jane
swallowtails and Alexanders
Last week we did the first of our forays to get material for a new set of poems I am working on. Our drive took us to the area north of Stanley, and some two-track roads where settlements and home-sites have been abandoned.
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the road to Mavis Mills, an abandoned community
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The main road was busy with butterflies: Papilio canadensis, Canadian tiger swallowtail. These are familiar butterflies, very similar to the eastern swallowtail, and once considered the same species. The males are yellow with black-rimmed wings (with a dotted yellow stripe in the margin) and four black tiger-stripes on the upper part of each fore-wing.
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The butterflies were congregating on the road near water puddles. They were interested in the muddy areas rather than the water. This behavior is called “puddling” and is a way for the butterfly to get sodium ions and amino acids.
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We took an old, two-track road to the abandoned hamlet of Mavis Mills and found the old settlement house sites. The once-cleared areas were populated by a pretty yellow composite flower, a member of the parsley family: Zizia aurea, golden Alexanders. These plants are usually under 30 inches high, with three serrated leaves (or three leaflets divided further into three’s) and a flat umbel of yellow flowers. The stems are red and the whole plant appears red in the fall. It is a host plant for the caterpillars of species of swallowtail butterflies. The plants grow in wet meadows and abandoned fields.
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field of golden Alexanders in an abandoned settlement
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We had an enjoyable drive, looking at abandoned homesteads and settlements. Since I am a botanist, I am interested in what has happened to the plants that once grew in the gardens of these homes. Some of the plants have vanished, but a few persist at the home-site and a few escape to cover ditches and countryside in bloom.
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an old lilac bush continuing to thrive near an abandoned house
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All my best!
Jane
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