Trail brighteners

Spring is on its way. The snowdrops are up in my garden, the bluebells have pushed their green tips above the soil. And along the trails in the forest, still green with moss and sword ferns, the first leaves of warm-weather plants sprout from damp soil. These three were all on a half-buried burnt log, in deep shade beside the trail along the river banks.

Siberian Miner's Lettuce?

Going by the pink stems and the leaves, and the location, I think this is Siberian Miner's Lettuce, which in the summer borders the paths with masses of tiny white or pinkish flowers wherever the sun manages to filter through.

Fringe cup, Tellima grandiflora?

Another common path liner. In a few months, it will raise tall stalks with tiny, greenish to pink frilly flowers. The Latin name is a misnomer; "grandiflora", big flower. But the flowers are tiny, up to 1 cm. long.

And the ever-present Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum.

This one is a bit of a nuisance. It's an imported plant, escaped from gardens. The leaves and the bright pink flowers are pretty, but it soon grows leggy and will cover any exposed area, smothering native plants. It self-seeds, by means of exploding seed pods, so extends its coverage quickly. I used to rip out great armloads that threatened to take over my garden. Fortunately, the roots are shallow.

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Estamos viendo señas de la primavera. En mi jardín, las campanillas de invierno, las que llamamos gotas de nieve, ya abrieron sus flores blancas; los jacintos levantaron sus primeros brotes verdes. En el bosque, verde por los helechos perennes y los musgos, las primeras hojas de plantas invernales brotan en el suelo húmedo.

Estos tres crecen en un tronco medio cubierto de tierra, al lado de un sendero en la sombra a la orilla del rio.

Fotos: 

1. Claytonia sibirica, "la lechuga del minero", creo, por los tallos color de rosa y la forma de las hojas, además del sitio. En el verano sus florecitas blancas cubren los bordes de los caminos entre el bosque dondequiera que entran los rayos del sol.
2. Tellima grandiflora; otra planta que crece al los bordes de los caminos. Más adelante alzará tallos altos llevando muchas flores de un verde claro, volviendo color rosa mientras maduran. El nombre scientífico no le queda bien; "grandiflora" pero las flores son pequeñas, midiendo apenas 1 cm.
3. Y la hierba "Robert", Geranium robertianum. Éste llega a ser algo nocivo. Es una planta importada, que escapó de jardines domésticos. Las hojas y las flores, de un color rosa fuerte, son bonitas, pero luego se vuelve rojo y se alargan los tallos, llegando a cubrir todo el espacio libre, ahogando las plantas indígenas, esparciendo semillas por medio de vainas explosivas. Hace tiempo, yo arrancaba grandes cantidades que amenazaban con colonizar mi jardín. Por suerte, las raices crecen cerca de la superficie del suelo.

On a sunny shoulder

The sunshine was blazing down, a nice change after several rainy weeks. I went exploring.
Down an access road beside the highway, home to logging trucks, pickups, and potholes, I stopped to look at some horsetails, and found roadside flowers, tiny and not so tiny.

Fringe-cup, Tellima grandiflora

Although why they call it "grandiflora", big flowers, when they are so very small, I don't understand. A large flower; stalk, cup, and fringe; may be only 1 cm. long. Big enough, if you're a bee.

One flower.

Herb-Robert, Geranium robertanium.

Another mysterious name. My guide book gives 6 possible Roberts it's named for, one being a house-goblin.

These grow prolifically in waste spaces. If they invade a garden, they quickly become invasive. They have a slightly unpleasant odor; before I found the name Herb-Robert, I used to call them Stinky geraniums. But they're pretty and cheerful, so I'm glad to see them.

Two flowers and a dropped petal.

Salmonberry flower. Overhanging a gravel road, the poor petals have been bombarded with fine sand. Behind it, one has already formed a berry, still hard and green.

Not a flower. The new curling tips of bracken fern, Pteridium aquilinum.

And on the shady side of the road, another sword fern.

I'll post horsetails tomorrow.

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Salió el sol, resplandeciente en un cielo azul, un cambio muy agradable después de un par de semanas de lluvia y nubes. Salí a explorar. Me encontré en un camino de grava frecuentado por camiones madereros, camionetas, y baches como para tragarse mis llantas. Hice parada para mirar unas "colas de caballo", Equisetum sp., y encontrá además muchas flores silvestres pequeñas.

Primero: "fringe-cup" Tellima grandiflora. No sé porque la llamaron grandiflora, cuando las flores apenas miden un centímetro con todo y tallo.

Luego, un geranio silvestre, "la hierba de Roberto", o Geranium robertanium. Otro nombre misterioso: nadie sabe por cierto quien era el tal Roberto. Mi libro guía da 6 posibles, uno siendo un duende. Tienen un olor un tanto desagradable; antes de conocer el nombre oficial, yo las llamaba los "geranios apestosos". Pero son bonitas y alegres, y siempre estoy contenta de verlas.

Después viene una flor de salmonberry, muy salpicada de arena del camino. Atrás, ya se ha formado una de las frutillas, todavía verde y dura.

Y luego dos helechos: las puntas enrolladas de un Pteridium aquilinum. Estos helechos desaparecen en invierno y brotan de nuevo en abril. Crecen muy altos, hasta tres metros o más. La segunda foto es un helecho de los que se mantienen verdes todo el año, pero surgen nuevas hojas en el centro en primavera.

Mañana vienen los "cola de caballo".

Wild geranium

Along the railroad tracks below the White Rock cliffs, railway crews have been at work, stripping out vegetation, churning the soil, dumping gravel. But some plants are never discouraged.

Geranium robertianum, with a sprig of trailing blackberry leaves.

Herb Robert.  Also known as Stinky Bob,  Red Robin, Death comes quickly, Storksbill, Dove's Foot, Crow's Foot, Dragonsblood, Bloodwort. And also, by gardeners, "That horrible weed." It grows anywhere, rapidly, and re-seeds itself enthusiastically, crowding out or completely smothering everything else. Luckily, the roots are shallow, and it is easily torn up. It always comes back, though.

Before I found its "real" name, I used to call it Stinky Geranium. It is one of the geraniums, and it does have a pungent odour, especially noticeable when you're ripping out armloads from your tidy landscaping.

The flowers are small, but their pink colour has a special carrying quality, so that they can be seen from a distance, even in shadowy undergrowth. The leaves turn red in dry conditions; on a wet bank, or in your lettuce plot, they're all green.

I wonder, though, where it got the name, "Death comes quickly." Nothing kills it.

Beautiful invader

Along the trails in the Watershed Park forest, where a bit of sunshine sometimes reaches the forest floor, Herb Robert gets a toehold.

"Stinky Bob", as it is known south of the border, in the US. Flowers and seed capsules.

Given time and opportunity, it will take over the area, evicting the evergreen ferns and mosses, discouraging the mushrooms that thrive in the moist dimness, leaving a tangled mass of red-brown stems by midsummer.

I found one good thing about Herb Robert.

Freshly picked leaves have an odor resembling burning tires when crushed, and if they are rubbed on the body the smell is said to repel mosquitoes. (Wikipedia)

Very well, but it doesn't make up for the loss of the greens.

"Stinky Bob"

One more plant from the shoreline at Crescent Beach. Herb Robert, they call it.

Geranium robertianum

This grows anywhere it can get a foothold, and once it's established, it stays put. It's an introduced weed from Eurasia that is capable of holding its own even against our native ferns. It grows enthusiastically on rocks, in gravel, or in the cracks of cement, along stream beds or roadsides. We had it on a solid clay hillside near Mission, and I would rip out great armfuls of the stuff, only to find it growing back a week later.

It confused me at first, too. It's a geranium, related and similar to several other native and introduced weeds;
"consult technical manuals", says my Plants of Coastal BC. Herb Robert is variable; it has an "unpleasant odour", or not. It is hairy, and the hairs may be sticky. Or not. The flowers may be solid pink or purplish, or striped with white. It is quite pretty in the spring, with its fern-like leaves and shining flowers, but the whole plant turns orange-red as the summer heats up, until it is a tangled mass of straggly, hairy, red leaves and stems, with few or no flowers.

It can spray its seeds up to 20 feet. And they will sprout next spring, no matter where they landed.

Why "Robert"? Nobody seems to know. Or rather, everybody seems to know a different reason.  Or even a different name; there are over 100. I like "Dragonsblood"; it describes the dry-season colour perfectly.