Like a rock, elm that is
Short, gnarly side branches all the way up the tree (Photo by Bill Moses)
My interest in botany came late in life. To compensate, I have restricted my primary interest to approximately 175 species of native woody plants of Grey and Bruce Counties. I try to give each one of them equal status and attention. Building on...
Dissecting the dandelion
Dandelion (Photo by Yinan Chen, Wikimedia Commons)
This past summer I found myself in an unexpected scenario: on a wild foraging expedition in the heart of a concrete jungle, in my own backyard. The middle of a backyard, from house to gravel alleyway, is not the first place that comes to mind when...
The Traills at Rice Lake
A view of the former home of Canadian author Catharine Parr Traill taken on Friday, September 19, 2014 on Smith Rd. in Lakefield. (Photo by Clifford Skarstedt/Peterborough Examiner/QMI Agency)
Ontarians usually associate Catharine Parr Traill with her book, The Backwoods of Canada. Those backwoods were located near Lakefield where she and her husband Thomas first pioneered on land just to the south of what is now Lakefield College...
What's in a salt marsh?
Wilson Lake and Lobster Bay, NS (Photo by Anthony Crawford)
My field work for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) often takes me through a number of different habitats, including salt marshes. Some are big, some are small, most are just right. One of these salt marshes is located in Yarmouth County,...
Labrador tea, growing wild in the Big Land
Not much colour in the Labrador tea, but amazing flavour. (Photo by Paul Smith/ Special to The Telegram)
I returned yesterday from Labrador, the Big Land, so vast and magnificent, with waterways that may never have floated a trout fly. There are not many places like Labrador left on our planet. We need to stay on our toes to protect it, us folks who...
Something pumpkiny this way comes
Pumpkins (Photo by Nino Barbieri, Wikimedia Commons)
It’s that time of year when we experience fall everywhere we go: brisk air, turned leaves, harvest displays, the donning of warmer apparel and more. This festive atmosphere becomes even more pronounced with the coming of Thanksgiving, and no...
What's to like about lichen?
Reindeer lichen (Photo by Mac Pitcher)
The clean air, cool foggy climate and contiguous old-growth forests of the Island of Newfoundland are an ideal formula for some very rare lichens. These species include boreal felt lichen, vole ears lichen and blue felt lichen. These lichens rely...
Pollination deception: Manitoba’s lady’s slipper orchids
Small white lady's-slipper (Photo by Melissa Grantham)
In Manitoba we have several species of lady’s slipper orchids, but the two I am most interested in, and have researched, are the yellow lady’s slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) and the provincially endangered small white lady’s...
Eel-grass: A moment in time
Eel-grass, Port Joli, Nova Scotia (Photo by NCC)
As we bushwhack through dense alder thickets, we hear the drone of a small plane flying back and forth over the Pugwash Estuary. It is a perfect summer day in August with a clear blue sky, perfect for capturing aerial imagery of Pugwash. The...
Brier Island's eastern mountain avens
Eastern mountain avens (Photo by June Swift)
For most of the year, the eastern mountain avens does its best to hide amongst the peatland vegetation on Brier Island, located at the extreme southwestern edge of Nova Scotia. However at the height of summer, a small buttercup-like flower the...
