Archive for the ‘wildflowers’ Category
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
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
wild gardens
As I look for ornamental plants that have escaped to other places in the landscape, I often find plants so lovely, it is hard to believe they have not been cultivated at one time.
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One of these is chicory (Cichorium intybus), a lovely blue flower. We found chicory growing on the Dugan Road west of Woodstock.
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Also known as blue sailors and, in French, chicoreé, chicory is a tall plant, seen along roadsides and in other waste places. Sometimes chicory is brought in loads of gravel (used for road maintenance) to locations where it is not usually found.
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Chicory has basal leaves resembling those of the dandelion. When broken, the stem exudes a white milky fluid.
The bright blue flowers of chicory occur along the length of the almost leafless and somewhat zig-zag stem. Each flower is formed of a central involucre of tiny blue flowers and a disc of larger ray flowers. The rays are square-cut and fringed. The flowers follow the sun, closing by noon, or on overcast days.
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At least one gardener I know has successfully transplanted chicory to his garden. I think I will keep a list of garden-worthy wildflowers during my treks this summer and perhaps write a poem to capture my virtual wildflower garden.
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This work was made possible by a Creations Grant from artsnb!
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All my best.
Jane
spring flowers
Our dominant ground greenery at this time of year is from the leaves of lily-of-the-valley (Convalleria majalis). Like emerald flames they light up the yard. And now they are in bloom. The fragrance is amazing!
All my best
and please stay safe at home.
Jane
mayflowers
In spring it is always fun to put all your senses together and search out the elusive mayflower, also known as trailing arbutus. Epigaea repens grows in the open woods where I live. You usually have to search for the trailing leaves and lift them to find the flowers.
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touch: the leaves are furry on the underside and smooth above; the petals of the flower are waxy.
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smell: the flowers are fragrant with a sweet, almost heady perfume.
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sight: the flowers are white to faintly pink; leaves are green with coppery brown surfaces and edges.
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Trailing Arbutus
(Epigaea repens L.)
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on the slope, new leaves
Trientalis, Gaultheria
Star-flower, Wintergreen,
vines of Partridge-berry creep
Maianthemum unfurls
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beneath the din, a melody
weeps Epigaea, evergreen
pressed to the hillside
leather armour, thickened leaves
weather-beaten, worn
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waxy bloom resists
subtle shadow
predator
unrelenting rain
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all my best,
staying at home,
Jane
Wildflowers: Blue-eyed grass
One of my favorite wildflowers in the fields around our cabin is Blue-eyed grass – Sisyrinchium montanum Greene.
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June, 2017
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Blue-eyed grass is not a grass at all, but a member of the iris family. It inhabits moist, open ground, fields and meadows, and blooms in late spring and summer. The plant is low and slender, with a deep blue flower and a bright yellow center, borne at the top of a straight, usually unbranched, stem. The stem is two-edged, flattened on the margins. The flowers are borne in the axil of a sharp, upheld bract called a spathe. In French, the plant is called Bermudienne. Montanum means ‘of the mountains’.
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June, 2017
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Blue-eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium montanum Greene
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I walk in grass
but it isn’t grass-
Sisyrinchium
it winks at me
with azure eyes
and I blink brown at them
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Blue-eyed Grass
stands straight and still
staunch Bermudienne
simple maid
with a watchful eye
and a sword above her head
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June, 2016
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
a moment of beautiful: wild roses
the place: beside the road into our cabin
the beautiful: pink roses in bloom (and the dark pink rosebuds)
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Notice a little spider found his way into the photo (about 12 o’clock on a petal).
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
along New Brunswick’s roads
New Brunswick is a beautiful province. We also have a great road system, both for those who want to linger and those who want to get through as fast as possible.
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This time of year I am amazed at the beauty of our four-lane Trans-Canada highway. I think the roadside has been seeded with a wild-flower mix but many are weedy species common in New Brunswick. Whatever their origins, the results are lovely.
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I have found these flowers in a quick sampling of the roadside:
Buttercup (Ranunculus sp.)
Lupin (Lupinus sp.)
Bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
Red Clover (Trifolium pretense)
Daisy (Leucanthemum sp.)
Viper’s Bugloss (Echium vulgare)
Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum)
Bedstraw (Galium sp.)
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farafara)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
(plus many grasses, sedges and non-flowering plants contributing to the background of green)
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Long stretches of highway can be boring-beyond-belief, but, because of these expanses of bloom, I am enjoying our drives along the highway this summer.
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
pink lady’s slipper
This time of year, my husband does an inventory of the Pink Lady’s Slippers (Cypripedium acaule) on our property.
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This year, he found 10. He only saw three last year but there have been as many as 15 in bloom at one time. We never pick them and try to keep our property natural and wooded.
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The Pink Lady’s Slipper prefers acidic soil and partly shady conditions, making our grey woods an ideal habitat. Our flowers are often a pale pink or white variety.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
spring wildflowers – Trout Lily
On a drive to Sussex yesterday, we found Trout Lily blooming in many ditches along the back roads.
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Trout Lily is an herbaceous colonial plant, covering slopes in rich, moist hardwoods. The plant is also known as Dog’s Tooth Violet, Yellow Adder’s-tongue, Fawn-lily, and in French, ail doux. The yellow lily-like flowers bloom in New Brunswick in May. The leaves are mottled in maroon and green. The young leaves and bulb-like ‘corm’ are edible but should only be gathered if the plants are abundant, to conserve the species.
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trout lily
(Erythronium americanum Ker)
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On a hike in the hardwood
north of the Dunbar Stream
you discover Trout Lily profusion
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Mottled purple leaves overlap
as the scales of adder or dragon
You know these plants as edible
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the leaves a salad, or pot-herb
and, deep underground, the corm
flavoured like garlic
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You fall to your knees
to dig, to gather, and
hesitate
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examine your motives
You, with two granola bars in your knapsack
and a bottle of water from Ontario
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(published as ‘trout lily’ in “within easy reach“, 2016, Chapel Street Editions)
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
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