I have been stopping lately on my neighborhood walks. Simply to take a deep breath. And smell. The delicate scent of blossoms have been wafting through the air and it’s quite delightful. I do enjoy the bright springtime bulbs and woodland wild flowers like trilliums and marsh marigolds, but let’s face it, they are mostly nice to look at. Blossoms on the other hand, win you over with their fragrance. Right now, it’s the heady scent of lilacs in my neighborhood. I was also lucky to see the lilacs at the Royal Botanical Gardens recently. Apparently the Lilac Garden is “one of the largest and diverse collections in the world.”…

Early spring blooms are starting to show their cheerful faces. Bright sunny daffodils, tiny crocuses, and delicate snowdrops to name a few. It’s still too early for the emblematic trilliums to blanket the forest floor. This will come soon. In the meantime I have been enjoying the masses of little purple flowers sweeping across grassy areas. A pop of brilliant colour shimmering in the green. Except every year I forget the name of this amethyst jewel. Scilla! Siberian squill is another name for this flower that grows from tiny bulbs each spring and multiplies easily. Cobalt blue petals hang from slender stems like a tiny umbrella. Inching up mere 4…

Peering down into the valley, all I can see is the earthy forest floor. Nothing remarkable. Mainly shades of brown. Decaying leaves, tree stumps, dead branches. I hear the faint hum of Bronte Creek in the distance. So far the path at Bronte Creek Provincial Park has followed the top of the ravine. It looks like a steep climb down. Down I go. Into the valley. At the bottom it’s marshy. The dirt path morphs into a boardwalk. On either side, the shallow water is still. Not even any gulping frogs. I continue along the boardwalk. There is a faint echo with each step on the wooden planks. I look…

In March, before the parks were closed, I went for a short walk at Balls Falls. Bright green patches of moss stood out in the otherwise muted landscape. I took several photos of the striking moss-covered rocks. But is moss interesting enough for a story? I had my doubts at the time. Well, here we are. Let me tell you about moss. Moss is a flowerless plant. It’s a simple plant structure and thrives in places where other plants can’t. Like shady damp areas. It can be mistaken for lichen. Lichen, however, does not have stems and leaves like a plant. It’s not a plant, but rather algae and fungus…