Today, was the first day of the Canadian Tulip Festival, and I was heading down to Dow’s Lake to see how the tulips in the formal display beds were doing. Before going that way, though, I decided to take a bit of a side trip to the Trillium Woods Trail which is a part of the Monk Environmental Park in Kanata, Ontario.
Although it is named Trillium Woods, there was very little sign of Trilliums along the trail today. This Spring has been rather cold and damp, and it is not only the tulips in the formal beds that are taking their time blossoming at their fullest. The same is true for the native flowers normally in bloom at this time of the year. By my estimate (unscientific), the blooming season is about one week behind schedule in the Ottawa area.
There were plenty of white blossoms along the trail this time around but, rather than being trilliums, the white blossoms were those of the Bloodroot plant.
I was lying down in the middle of the trail to take these bloodroot shots when I knocked a leaf and out came this rather attractive little red bug known by the common name Red Flat Bark Beetle (Cucujus clavipes)
Walking along a trail like this you encounter all types of things. Today, it was my encounter with something black with a white stripe running down its back! What a fright :-).
Other flowers that were beginning to bloom were the trout lily, some of the native cherry species. In the moister areas, various ferns were unfurling their green fronds.
I’ll add this to my list of interesting west-end places to hit once we move out to Stittsville. I’ve spent a lot of time checking out the wildflowers of the Pontiac but not so much around here. Thanks for the photos.
Particularly well executed writing.