capilano park herb walk

i went on a plant walk the other week.  it ended up being a rather blustery wet and snowy day.  it really was not all that bad though!  it was relatively warm, and even though i came home rather wet and kinda tired, i had a good time!

we learnt about trees!  several types of trees.  i actually maybe didnt get the best pictures of all the trees, but that's alright.
first was poplar!  i was happy about this because she discussed the 2 different types of poplar trees that around there.  i had noticed earlier this season the two types but didn't know the exact difference or how to tell them apart and now i do!  there is the aspen poplar or trembling aspen, which is the more.. delicate? of the two and also has some little pussy willowy type things on it in the spring that i had noticed.  it had these long fuzzy things that were soaked at this time.

she said that poplar is in the willow family, which has salicylic acid?  which has pain relieving properties.  also, she said that that the branches of the aspen poplar was used by...i forget who? to set bones.  to me it seems like it might partly be because it had very straight branches, but i dont know?
and the balsam poplar, which is rather huge and has big sticky kinda ugly looking buds!

i didnt really take a picture of the tree i guess?  except for this..

then she showed us some hazelnut!  i didnt know what hazelnut looked like, and there were a whole bunch around, so i am looking forward to checking it out later on in the year when it has leaves and whatnot.  they were bushes and they had cute little cone type things and really neat little pink flowers!

then she talked about dogwood for a bit..  with it's pretty pretty red branches!  for the life of me i can't remember what she said about it though..   ugh.

earlier in the year i picked a small branch of it and put it in a cup of water along with my pussy willow branch that sprouted leaves and it started sprouting leaves right away!  so i've got a branch of it with pretty little green leaves at home!

next was pine..  and she also talked about the sap that they drip out..   i think she said that pine had antiseptic type properties.  but i'm sick and my brain is a little wonky.

next she talked about willow.  she spoke of the willow bushes down by the river bank, there are lots of tall stick like bushes with small thin leaves that grow along the river bank, which are a type of willow.  we didnt go down there and look on account of it being super duper wet and slippery, so i didnt get a picture, the best i got is this...

in which you can't even really see what i'm talking about.
around where we stopped and talked about the willows i took a picture of a bud for my tree tracking project though..

it belonged to this tree..

and i may be totally wrong, but if my memory serves me correct i think that it very well may be a willow!  i didnt walk down that way too too often last year, but i think there was a big willow tree over there and it kinda looks like a willow from the way the trunk and the branches are shaped too?

lastly she talked about birch!  the paper birch.. and ya know, i didnt take a picture of that birch tree at all!  the poor birch she showed us had been banded..  i dont know why someone would do that?  you can kill a tree doing that..  but it seemed to be doing alright, so that's good!  it's a shame to kill a tree, especially for something as stupid as getting a little piece of birch bark.
after i just walked around a bit and took more pictures..
there was lots of interesting and pretty things to see!
like some interesting tree trunks..

and water droplets everywhere!!!

i stopped to take a picture of a hole in this tree.. cause, i'm not sure why..  but just because..

and this chickadee came up to see me!  i was taking the picture with my phone (i took most of the pictures with my phone cause it was raining/snowing, and i'd rather that get wet than my camera) and this chickadee kept coming right up close, i got out my camera but i got only one clear shot of it's rear end.  it's back end with his tail up, so nice.  then it flew away and i waited but it didnt come back.  but i got some nice phone pictures!

on the ground i saw these bubbles..

and some pretty scenery..

the walking bridge was all snowy..  so much snow.. it's supposed to be spring and green.. and bleh..

the nice snowy river valley..

and then home to dry off and warm up and it was good friday, so everyone came over and we dyed easter eggs!