by Sandy Garland Bittersweet Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) On Tuesday, while working in the woods, our volunteer group came across a number of nightshade plants of two species. The same week, one of our Friday morning volunteers brought in another nightshade species with little white flowers. All this prompted some focused Googling and this [...]
by Sandy Garland Although last Tuesday was one of the hottest days of the year, Ted, Kate, Catrina, Melanie, and Mirko all arrived ready to work. We had decided to plant more trees - not the best time of year for this activity, but we needed to get the trees into the ground where they [...]
by Sandy Garland Once upon a time, 4-5 years ago, I pulled out the DSV that was growing under this walnut tree. I put down some newspapers to keep it from growing back (this doesn't really work) and forgot about it. This year, I noticed there is almost no DSV under this tree. The [...]
by Sandy Garland A fern, planted about 5 years ago along with other woodland species, is now overwhelmed by new growth and species responding to the increased light. The Tuesday group wanted to plant trees - a positive, long-term, satisfying job at any time and much more fun than always pulling things out. [...]
by Sandy Garland Tuesday must be a good gardening day. Actually, it was the weather that dictated planting the new garden beds at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne on Tuesday morning - cloudy with showers expected in the evening. Lynn Armstrong, who is designing a series of raised beds there, asked if the FWG would [...]
by Sandy Garland Yes, despite the threatened thunderstorms, both the Tuesday group and a crew of people involved in the Learning Garden at Ottawa U came to work in our Old Woodlot the same day. In the afternoon, Derek and Mirko tackled the milkweed field with scythes. Despite the hot, humid weather, they succeeded in [...]
Swamp Milkweed photographed by Gillian Shields by Gillian Shields Editor's note: The butterfly count is an annual OFNC event organized this year by Jeff Skevington and Peter Hall. Working in groups or alone, participants patrol the same location each year from about 9 a.m. to about 4 or 5 p.m. The 15th annual Ottawa [...]
by Sandy Garland Great sunny weather and a number of Facebook friends made this the best nature walk we've had this year. Don't worry, though, there's still time to join us for the next one. We're having guided walks at the garden every second Sunday afternoon until the fall. They're casual and fun - just [...]
by Sandy Garland Tuesday again and another chance to work in the Old Woodlot! I was rather disorganized this week as it sort of looked like rain, except when the sun came out, and volunteers arrived one at a time, so it was hard to know how big a job to tackle. So we loaded [...]
by Sandy Garland This Red Osier Dogwood is probably over 15 years old. I remember when this Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) shrub was just a tiny thing at the edge of the path. It sent out roots - one of them sticking out so that we'd trip over it every now and [...]
