False Solomon's seal

This spring started off slow and cool. Winter just balked at fully retiring, despite that it was due to; it had been a too-long, too-cold winter. Spring had more than the usual amount of rain; we had rain events that seemed too prolonged, and far heavier in volume than seemed usual.

Pink-flowering honeysuckle

The result of that has been an early crop of mosquitoes and their voluminous presence too is unusual. Nothing carefree this spring about embarking on our daily traipses around the ravine. Because we prefer not to use insect repellent if we can get away without it, we've had to cover up arms and legs more carefully than we would have, otherwise. And to select light-coloured coverups, since mosquitoes notoriously are attracted to dark colours.

White-flowering honeysuckle

On the other hand, spring has caught up to its obligations to give show-and-tell (grow-and-swell) opportunities to the flora in the ravine. We've a large number of Bass seedlings coming along as well as Hackberry which my botanist brother informs us is not meant to grow in the Ottawa Valley.

Dogwood shrubs in flower

The dogwood shrubs are now beginning to bloom, and so are the ground dogwood (bunchberry).

Flowering bunchberry (dogwood)

The honeysuckle are now in full bloom, and what seems odd to us is that where there is a white honeysuckle bush, a pink one will be growing right beside it, not as robust as the white, but very present nonetheless. For the first time we can recall we've now seen viper's bugloss, growing on the slope of the creek bank, difficult to access because the soil is so friable there, tending to fall away.

Viper's bugloss

The False Solomon's Seal is blooming and it will be dangling its fruit in late summer. Fascinating forms of fungi are appearing at the base of dead trees presenting another form of aesthetic attraction. Roaming through the ravine is never boring.