Crab spider, Bleeding Hearts, Ferns, Cherries, Johnny-jump-ups
We enjoyed another very bright day on June 3. The combination of near-solstice sun position, a dry arctic air mass and changing forms of chlorophyll all contributed to high contrast, colourful scenes. The above “featured image” of patches of ferns is an example of what was seen. Here it is again, in case you want to click on it:
The rock cuts showed many examples of wild gardens, such of this collection of ferns, columbines, lichens, mosses and saxifrage here:
The insects were out and about, like this “solitary” bee inspecting a yellow pond lily blossom:
The ambush spider (or crab spider) that I’d seen the day before was still out:
Click on this close-up photo to see its eyes a bit more clearly…. and click on this link to see an interesting discussion of this spider’s eyes:
This unfurling bracken fern has two visitors, a spider and a fly…
This scene reminded me of Monet’s series…
Family going for a cruise on Big Lake …
The following few days the weather returned to our cold springtime with lots of rain …
Compare the Choke Cherry above
with the Black Cherry below …
The Red Osier Dogwood is also in bloom nowadays …
The water brings out the vivid colours of the Columbine …
This nice fern growing in the rock along Community Road can be used to test this exercise …
Ah …. Diana’s flowers are starting to display her skill and attention to her gardening!
Solomon’s Seal with its little bells hanging down along the main stem…
If you look closely you’ll see the similarity of this Bleeding Heart to the wildflowers, Pale Corydalis, and Dutchman’s Breeches that graced this blog a few weeks ago. They’re all in the same plant (Fumitory) family.
Diana has a lot of Johnny-jump-ups [Viola tricolor, also known as Johnny Jump up, heartsease, heart’s ease, heart’s delight, tickle-my-fancy, Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me, come-and-cuddle-me, three faces in a hood, or love-in-idleness ] in her main flower garden with several bunches spreading even into her driveway. I wonder if she knows of the quaint stories associated with this flower:
These last two photos are left as an exercise for you. Which is Black Cherry and which is Choke Cherry?
A….
B….
Mary Holland has given us a heads-up that this beastie will soon be blooming along our roadsides.
Brtthome's Blog 
Tom the black cherries are not in full bloom yet! Mine look exactly like the ones you shot above. And,…… No I do not know the Folk Lore about Johnny Jump Ups!! Please next time you see me in the garden or walking Loulou, tell me! Thanks Love the Spider eye blog!!
Yes, the black cherries seem to bloom at least a week later than the choke cherries. The small (< 1m high) sand cherries are just starting to bloom now. A good place to see all four cherries, [pin, choke, sand and black] is beside the monster steps going up to Keith's house.
William Shakespeare had a lot of fun with Viola Tricolor in his Midsummer's Night Dream where: "The juice of the heartsease now, claims Oberon, "on sleeping eyelids laid, Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees." Equipped with such powers, Oberon and Puck control the fates of various characters in the play to provide Shakespeare's essential dramatic and comic structure for the play." See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_tricolor
So as Midsummer (St John's Day) approaches, keep an eye on your heartsease to ensure that no fairies are harvesting them!!