Wednesday Walk ~ a nature walk on the side of the street

Daylilies, the quintessential summer flower. I spotted these just as I headed out for a short Wednesday walk, and as I snapped the first photos, the sun came out.

The city flower beds are this amazing mixture of what the city planted and what nature left behind. The milkweeds have sprung up above the daylilies and are beginning to flower. Although I haven't seen a Monarch butterfly yet, they should be here now.

Close to the street but look at the cool tunnel ahead! (Always stay in touch with your inner child.)

And now I'm under the vines and look at all those wild grapes. This grape is one of the ancestors of the Concord grape, the purple ones often made into grape juice. They make great juice too but, by the time they are ready, the birds usually get there first.

Another shrub loaded with berries.

The border along the sidewalk is the picture of summer lushness. There is a little bunny that lives along here but I don't see it today. He just comes out to eat the clover.

Sumacs are beautiful and the flowers can be turned into a delicious spread that tastes somewhat lemony.

In some places there are tall trees of different types and the grapes will use anything as support.

Another tunnel, but not grapes this time. I can never remember whether it is Engelmann's ivy or Virginia Creeper.

Can you see the cones on this blue spruce tree? The Farmer's Almanac warns us that it will be a cold winter when all the plants and trees produce so abundantly.

Most of the roses on the sunny side of the street are past their prime. No problem, we will just cross over to the "dark side" now. By the way, the street is busier than my photos would lead you to believe.

This side borders on park land and we have a real mix of things under the spruce trees. Those are a different type of sumac in the foreground and the white lacy flower on the right is a wild carrot, also known as Queen Anne's lace. The roots smell like carrots but they are not very big.

Zooming in on the roses, you can see they are so bright they are almost fluorescent.

Looking up, there are galls all over the leaves on this tree. Many different types of insects produce these.

This whole area is built on Canadian Shield, a large area of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock that underlies most of North America. Here is what it looks like. Wikipedia tells me that it takes up 8,000,000 square kilometres (3,090 square miles) of Canada.

Last photo, some wildflowers.

Thank you @tattoodjay for starting the Wednesday Walk!

Images

Photos from the iPad of @kansuze in Kanata (Ottawa), Canada.

Enjoy!
@kansuze