Beautiful solitary peony

Photo by Barry Wallace

This is the first peony in the garden this year.   It appears it may be the only bloom on this particular bush this year.   There isn't another single bud on this plant.   But this flower is a beauty.   It is 9" or 23 cm. across.   Apart from its floral beauty, the white peony is popular as a tea and an accupucture additive.

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Barry Wallace

From biggest oak to smallest oak

Photo by Barry Wallace

Chinkapin Oak

Quercus muehlenbergii

The day after I blogged about the mammoth Burl Oak at Humber Trails Forest & Wildlife Area, west of the Mill Road, at King Creek, I happened to meet a young employee of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority who told me he was meeting, that very day, with a resident of King Creek and a York Region employee to view the Bur Oak with an intention of getting the tree officially designated as a York Region Heritage Tree.   Great news!   This is exactly what should happen to this magnificent specimen.   I had a very pleasant chat with the young TRCA staffer and went upon my way, completely forgetting to mentioned to him that I had also spotted a young Chinkapin Oak not far from the Bur Oak.   Lake Ontario is the northern limit for the Chinkapin.   It reaches Hamilton at the west end of Lake Ontario and Kingston at the east end of the lake.   The area in between, on the north side of the lake, is not supposed to have Chinkapin Oaks.   But there is a small, young one directly north of Toronto, in southern King Township, near the banks of the East Humber River (see photo above).   The Chinkapin is also known as the Chinquapin Oak.   Chinquapin is very close to the Virginian Algonquin Indian name for the tree's nut.   According to Wikipedia: "The Chinkapin Oak is especially known for its sweet and palatable acorns.   Indeed, the nuts contained inside of the thin shell are among the sweetest of any oak, with an excellent taste even when eaten raw, providing an excellent source of food for both wildlife and people".   And while this Chinkapin is small today, it can grow to 50' in height (some have grown 160' in the US.)
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Barry Wallace      

Humber Trails ~ along the East Humber River

Photos by Barry Wallace

Eastern Comma

           Old man-made spring

Silver-spotted Skipper or Hoary Edge?

Silver-spotted Skipper

Trilliums

Blockage on the Humber

Golden Alexanders

Greater Celandine

Campfire ashes

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Barry Wallace

In the Holland Marsh...

Photos by Barry Wallace

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Barry Wallace

Biggest Oak in King?

Photo by Barry Wallace

A new follower (Karen) of this blog wrote to tell me she recently moved into the King Creek area of King Township.   King Creek is on the Mill Road, which runs between the King Sideroad and the King-Vaughan Townline, between the 7th and 8th Concessions of King.   It's a charming and picturesque hamlet with the East Humber River meandering through it.   Lucky gal.   King Creek is also home to the Humber Trails Conservation Area which follows the Humber for almost the entire two kilometres between the 7th and 8th.   One of my favourite features of Humber Trails is the massive 90' oak tree, which towers above the Humber, just east of the wooden bridge, halfway into the riverine wildlife preserve and forest.   My wife and I visited it on the long weekend and measured its circumference (16' 3") and radius (5').   A few years ago, I submitted this tree to a province-wide search for the biggest trees in the province by county or region.   My submission was acknowledged but I never heard how it fared in the competition.   Obviously, the KingCreek/Humber Trails Oak was not the biggest oak in York Region or Ontario.   I'm not even sure what kind of oak it is.   I think I've narrowed it down to either, White, Red, Black, Bur (Mossycup), or Swamp, and I'm leaning heavily to Bur Oak.   The leaves I picked up most closely resemble the Bur Oak leaf and a remnant acorn had the mossy fringe on its cap that the Bur Oak (or Mossycup Oak) has.   I have to do some more research, but if in the meantime if you know what kind of oak this is, please comment.

In the bottom photo, immediately above, my wife is barely visible at the base of the oak's trunk.   She is 5"3" tall and I extrapolated the oak's height from her height.   Bur (or Mossycup) Oaks are normally 70' to 80' tall but can go as high as 170'.   Their diameter is usually 2' to 3' and can go up to 7'.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace 

A squirrel planted a chestnut tree

Photo by Barry Wallace

I took this photo of my neighbour Rob's house, across the street from mine, because of the 35 ft. chestnut tree behind his house, on the right of this picture.   The chestnut tree is in full bloom and it's a beauty to behold.   10 years ago, I watched a squirrel bring a chestnut from that tree, across Rob's backyard, across the street and into my backyard where it buried the nut in a flower bed.   I chuckled to myself at the time and thought "...we shall see what becomes of that nut".   It flourished and three years later a decision had to be made.   Either we pull the young chestnut sapling out of the flower bed and pitch it, or we transplant it to a spot where there was actually room for such a tree.   My wife suggested a corner of our lot that faces onto to two intersecting streets.   I planted the young tree, with the bare root, but was not expecting much.   That was seven years ago.   In the picture above, that chestnut tree is the dark image on the left.   It's 10' tall and thriving, but still too immature to have blossoms.   My neighbour, Shirley, a couple of doors away, said yesterday that she just loves our  beautiful, young chestnut tree and if anything untoward happens to it, she'll be very upset.   We've been warned!   Yes, and nature does have its persevering powers.

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Barry Wallace

Maple Leaf Cricket Club

Photos by Barry Wallace

The cricket season is in full swing at The Maple Leaf Cricket Club in Eversley, on the north-east corner of Dufferin Street and the 15th Sideroad, minutes from King City.   The brightly-coloured matches seem to fill every Saturday and Sunday from dawn 'til dusk.   

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Barry Wallace