Flowers for all senses

While walking home from work this week, sometimes drenched, sometimes dry I was struck by a most amazing sweet fragrance. We welcome the shade urban trees provide and their shelter from wind and rain. But not always do we notice their fragrances. Many of our trees  and shrubs to not produce scent. Most of us can recall the scent of roses, but did you know the city is aburst with the aroma of lime this week?

This week is owned by the lindens. Their sweet lime fragrance scents the downtown and suburban landscape. Lindens are those trees with heart-shaped leaves and clusters of sticky yellow-green flowers. The aromatic volatile oils that give the tree its fragrance have also been employed in herbal medicine, as a soporific and for stomach ailments.

A refreshing tea may be made by steeping fresh or dried flowers.


Linden in flower on a windy day, photo by Marian Munro

Wild Edibles, part III

For those who garden or gather, this month is for you to try adding flowers to salads. One only need a base of favourite greens. I find baby spinach or mixed arugula greens works best, for flavour and texture. A light oil and vinegar dressing with celery or poppy seeds is best.

Then comes the best part: Any of dill flowers, chives and flowers, dandelion (petals only), calendula, chicory, nasturtium, daylily, violets, pansies and clover petals may be added to taste. Not all are needed nor desirable. Use what you have available.

Why not have an herbal tea too. Dried wild strawberries make a good tea but my favourite is sweetfern. Drying the plants intensifies the flavour. Crush a few in a small teapot that has been warmed. Pour boiling water over it, allowing it to steep. Strain and serve. Needs no sugar nor honey, but you decide.

Of course wild-gathered foods should be done mindful of contaminants such as exhaust and sprays.

Chicory flowers, by Martin Thomas
Daylily flower, by Martin Thomas






Viola tricolor, by Martin Thomas


Sweetfern, photo by Marian Munro

Moth flowers

Moth flowers

This week has been so grey and humid in Halifax, but there is lots of activity in my neighbourhood. On a walk down by the river, I could hear the dripping of water from saturated leaves, and the steady munching, as though someone were eating a cob of corn. But no, it was one of our castorian neighbours. Sitting on a submerged rock with young spruce saplings at hand, sat the hungry beaver.

Most notable too were the Evening-primroses along the trail. These night-scented flowers open wide in low light levels. Like Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana sp.), Soapwort (Saponaria sp.) , Honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.) and Valerian (Valeriana spp.) they attract moth pollinators with their strong sweet scent and ample nectar.

If attracting pollinators is one of your gardening or landscaping goals, seeding some of these well-established introductions in your garden is an easy activity. Most of the newer varieties are treated or produce less scent and nectar. A cautionary note about Valerian, it spreads quickly and may become invasive. Keep it controlled  and limit it to single plants.

These are but a few, but moth flowers tend to be heavily scented, light in colour and with ample rewards accessible in a tubular corolla.

Sure enough on this same walk just before dusk, a busy hovering hawk moth visited the large patch of Oenothera biennis near my home.

Oenothera biennis, photo by Martin Thomas

Valeriana officinalis, photo by Martin Thomas

Saponaria officinalis, photo by Martin Thomas

Fierce flora

While walking around the gardens of concrete and asphalt we call sidewalks, I am struck by the variety of plants we find in nooks and crannies. Wherever a bit of tobacco, or fallen leaves, or sand from winter shovels accumulate, we find a distinct group of plants growing on the merest hint of soil. Sidewalk cracks and the interface between wall and sidewalk, provide the greatest opportunities to these ruderals. Often fast-growing and disturbance tolerant, they do not withstand competition well. Cement and asphalt are only temporary barriers. Many are annual in growth habit, sprouting with spring’s earliest warmth and setting seed by fall.

One is often left wondering, which came first, the cracks or the plants? Obviously cracks between sidewalk blocks are deliberate to allow for expansion and contraction of the blocks. But in ashphalt, the slightest indentation allows for the accumulation of growth medium. Once the plants arrive, the roots grow downward seeking water and nutrients, further widening the cracks. Erosion has begun albeit much slower than a raging rain-swollen stream.

Have you noticed anything wild and wonderful, fierce or otherwise in your corner? Join us tomorrow, Tuesday July 21, 10:30 and share your stories on Twitter. Use @NovaScotiaFlora or #NSBotany.

Small asphalt crack with Creeping White Clover, Hop Clover and Common Plantain. Photo by Marian Munro

Rough Cinquefoil, photo by Marian Munro

Yarrow, photo by Marian Munro

Peppergrass, photo by Marian Munro

Pineappleweed, photo by Marian Munro

Grasses

Come summer we are mindful of the plants around us in different ways: the leaves appear on the trees, sometimes the flowers appear first and the lawn needs to be mowed. Now I have ignored garden pursuits, not for any reason than I want to focus on the concept of ‘lawn’. What is a lawn? Well it is a managed grassland, probably originally fenced and used to feed livestock. In Europe the lawn as a managed plot of grasses, became associated with the aristocracy. From the Middle Ages onward these intensively managed grasslands were associated with large estates and hardly differed from pastures. It was not until the invention of mowing machines, did closely shorn grasslands take on their current appearance.  Their significance in modern culture appeared shortly after the work week was shortened and leisure time increased (so claimed the authors of a Wikipedia article). Ideally lawns are green and made up of grasses. They are durable expanses, that some associate with nature, or the interface between built landscape and nature.

Lawn grasses are largely the purveyance of the plant breeders. There are relatively few actual species used as the best lawn grasses. Kentucky Bluegrass, (Poa pratensis) an introduction from Europe is one of the most successful cool season grasses used, both past and present. Bentgrasses (Agrostis species), Ryegrasses and Fescuses follow. All are introduced and all are now part of the Nova Scotian flora as naturalized species. Other, native grasses may also be used at our cooler latitudes. These are the reed grasses (Calamagrostis spp.) and hairgrasses, (Deschampsia spp.).

The grasses are one of the larger families of plants in Nova Scotia, with more than 140 species, subspecies and varieties present. The split is almost even with slightly more native species. Grasses if left free from mowing, have long linear leaves at the base of the plants or along the jointed stems. The flowers are formed in clusters usually at the top of the plant. As grasses are largely wind-pollinated, there are no petals nor sepals associated with pollinator attraction. The individual flowers or florets are reduced in size and modified in structure. Generally a hand-lens is recommended to see the flowers and their form.

Grasses are significant to us as providing some of the staple crops. They were amongst the first agricultural crops: rice, wheat, barley, rye and corn. They are also significant in the natural landscape. In Nova Scotia they dominate meadows between streams and forest. Coastal grasslands are called saltmarshes, with species especially suited to salt water, fog and spray.

In our managed landscape they may be used to add texture to gardens. Grasses with slolons make good recreational lawns that are kept mowed. Other species form rounded clumps that are best planted where height and texture are desirable. Grasses are also used to provide motion and colour variation. One just has to watch the rippling in a field or meadow under gentle breezes to recognize their inherent beauty.

Thanks to Sandra’s artistic eye (and video) for inspiring this piece.

Calamagrostis, bluejoint photo by Ross Hall

Cordgrass zonation in saltmarsh, photo by Martin Thomas

Ammophila, dunegrass, photo by Martin Thomas

Harmful plants, again

Summer brings warm weather, which in turn brings us outside and in contact with plants that may harm us. Generally these are the plants armed with hairs, barbs and prickles or those containing an irritant. Most of us in search of a raspberry or two remember the sharp pang of bristles and thorns. Raspberries, blackberries and dewberries are all armed with bristles that easily break off. The plants are so armed to keep herbivores from grazing. Roses too, have various kinds of prickles along their stems. Other plants contain stronger mechanisms to avoid consumption.

Stinging Nettles commonly seen along seashores, wharves or old livestock pens have stinging hairs along their stems. These are actually hollow, containing an acid that once it enters our skin causes a burning sensation. Nettle sting or burn can lasts minutes or hours depending on sensitivity. Yet these plants collected earlier, in spring, make a delicious potherb. Their leaves are often dried and even added to teas or cheese as flavouring.

“Leaflets three, let em be” is often heard in relation to Poison-ivy. Many plants have three leaflets, but poison-ivy is distinctive. Its leaflets have a shallow tooth towards their tips, and sometimes two. The plant is a woody vine, sprouting its greenish flowers beneath the leaves. The fruit is white upon maturity, appearing in clusters. Poison-ivy leaves turn beautiful variegated colours of pinks and purples in fall. The plants should not be handled, picked nor dug without protection in any season. All stems and leaves contain an irritating sap that causes painful burning and itchy blisters  on sensitive individuals often needing medical attention. We have two very common species of poison-ivy, found along sandy seashores of the Northumberland Strait, along streams, lakeshores and in gypsum areas, throughout the province. Note: Plants should never be burned. The resulting smoke can cause permanent lung damage without proper equipment.

Seen in roadside ditches, shady paths and along streamside is the native Cow-parsnip or bugosi. Its sap also causes stinging, painful blisters with the added detriment of causing photosensitivity on affected areas that may last years. This means that sunlight on those areas may cause the return of blisters. Two closely related species of this wild plant are becoming invasive in our province, Hogweed and Giant Hogweed. Both introduced as garden plantings (via seeds) from Europe or Asia and both cause extreme rashes when we contact them. Most problematic are the leaves and stalks. These plants are proving to be tenacious and difficult to remove. We have not seen them on offshore islands, otherwise they are considered to be throughout Nova Scotia. In case you wonder how the original plants arrived without causing harm: they were probably planted from seeds, which contain no irritants. Closely related is Wild Parsnip, a yellow-flowered plant with similar leaves and causing similar effects on skin.

But take heart, out of 1600 species of plants, there are only about two dozen that cause us grief by touch, and enjoy our short summer! If you are wondering if your property may have harmful plants as listed above please contact me through this site or join us July 21 at 10:30AM and Ask a Curator your botanical questions. @NovaScotiaFlora #NSBotany

Rosa virginiana, Common Wild Rose by Martin Thomas
Bristly Blackberry, Rubus setosa, by Martin Thomas

Stinging Nettle, Urtica dioica, by Ross Hall
Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, photo by Marian Munro
Cow Parsnip, photo by Ross Hall
Giant Hogweed, photo submitted for identification 2010
Wild Parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, by Martin Thomas

Botanical Illustrators in Nova Scotia

While cleaning out some files, I found a program for an earlier exhibit, entitled "Five Centuries of Botanical Illustration". Within was included the work of Nova Scotian watercolourist and teacher, Maria Morris Miller. With the assistance of naturalist Titus Smith, she painted more than 100 native Nova Scotian wildflowers, mostly in the 1830s. Some of her works were published as hand-coloured lithographs. She also taught painting, where her students learned to paint by copying her pieces. 

One of Ms. Morris' paintings, of the Mayflower, was made into a postcard, widely scattered by Museum visitors after the Botanical Illustration exhibit of the 1990s. A larger-than-life model of the Mayflower based on this painting was created for a wall at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax by our own model-maker, David Coldwell. Watch for its return soon to the small exhibit case featuring the Mayflower in historical objects and nature.

Azor Vienneau, formerly the staff artist of the Nova Scotia Museum created many watercolours of Nova Scotia flora. His plant studies and sketches were used by Mr. Coldwell to create dozens of notable pieces of botanical art, usually of wire and latex, mounted on walnut bases.

Have a botanical question? Join us on Twitter, July 21, 10:30AM ADT and Ask a Curator. We may even have special guests joining in to keep the dialog blooming!

Moccasin Flower, painting by Azor Vienneau

Shadbush model, created by David Coldwell

Blueberries, Maria Morris Miller

July's flower, Larkspur

Representing this month is the beautiful Larkspur, generally associated with richly blue flowers, but also seen in white, pink and purple. Generally this fanciful name is reserved for the annual species and varieties of Consolida while Delphinium is the genus and vernacular name of perennial species of larkspur.

The name ‘larkspur’ refers to the spurred calyx reportedly in the shape of the lark, also native to western Europe. The flowers express several qualities and emotions depending on the colour: pink is equated with Fickleness, white with Joyfulness and purple with a Sweet Disposition.

Nova Scotia has no native species of neither Consolida nor Delphinium, although both were popular garden flowers for cutting or cottage display. Like a near relative, Monk’s-hood, all parts of the plants, especially the seeds are considered poisonous and even deadly. A death in Newfoundland of a young actor in 2004 was attributed to ingesting Monkshood.

Larkspurs are members of the Buttercup family, but unlike Columbine do not seem to thrive here outside of cultivation.

Curious about what plants are native to Nova Scotia? Look no further than the Contact Us button on the header. Free download of the NS Plants manuscript.


Garden catalogue from 1906