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.

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