The Quiet and Wondrous Woods

World-weary, last week I took myself off one afternoon to Montreal's Parc Angrignon, wanting to walk along the water and hear some bird song and, I hoped, clear my head and lift my spirits. This is a park with a lot of water, and it also has large tracts of undeveloped woodland. I'd never walked in those woods before. They beckoned to me, though, and in I plunged -- and to my surprise found many native wildflowers, growing happily and undisturbed. (I was glad I visited when I did, because I also saw a lot of little poison ivy plants starting to unfurl in some of the same areas.) Since we all need some beauty and delicacy these days, here are some pictures of that afternoon -- take a few moments and walk with me.

White trillium.

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Wild ginger

Yellow violets

Bellwort - new to me. Thanks to G. for helping with the identification.

Red trillium.

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I also spent some time sitting on a log, sketching a view across this channel of water. A day or two later, I made the much more satisfactory watercolor at the top of the post.

Spring has been very slow to come to Montreal this year. Finally, this week, I put the house plants out on the balcony and started potting some annuals and herbs to grow there for the summer. It feels like a huge relief to be able to be outdoors, and warm there, again.

Comments

[Andrea]

Hi Beth. I think your wild ginger is actually bloodroot. I have a little bloodroot clump in our back yard and that sure looks the same. Cheers, A.

[Beth]

Hi Andrea! You're right that the leaves of bloodroot and wild ginger are very similar. The difference is the size, which you can't tell from my photo -- those leaves are six or eight inches across. Also, I could see the strange little maroon blossoms of the wild ginger hidden at the base of the plants. Bloodroot is a favorite of mine. I found a lot of blooming plants the last time we were at the lake, but didn't see any in this particular woods in Montreal, though I expected to.

[Barb Rogers]

I love your watercolor, as well as the photos. But I know the watercolor took a lot more time and talent. Beautiful spring wild flowers. Thanks for sharing them. If I don't comment often it's because I have to fill in three lines of info about myself just to post a comment. But this time it was worth it!