Posts Tagged ‘dog strangling vine’

Old Finch and the Finch Meander

Posted: May 29, 2025 in history, nature
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Old Finch Avenue runs immediately north of the zoo way over in the northeast corner of the city.  It also crosses the Rouge River close to what is called the Finch Meander.  Because of  its history and the surrounding geography, the eastern portion of Finch has to curve around the river and as a result, it doesn’t align properly with the western portion.

below: On Finch, traffic crosses a one lane bridge that spans the Rouge River.

from behind, a car crosses a single lane bridge, trees all around, green

below: Hurricane Hazel struck Toronto in October 1954. It damaged or washed away many bridges over the Rouge River including the one here.  The replacement bridge is a “Bailey Bridge” built by the 2nd Field Engineer Regiment of the Canadian Military Engineers.  Seventy years later it is the last one still in use.

small bailey bridge over the rouge river, brownish water underneath, lots of green tree around

graffiti on the support to a bridge

below: Can you see the little orange alien?  I think that it’s waving at you…..

graffiti on rock and concrete under a bridge

And a few photos from walking around the Rouge River park in that area –

below: Down the steps and into the woods….

a set of stairs covered partially with old leaves, wood hand railing, leading to forest near Rouge Rver

a path through the woods in late May, most trees now with leaves

forest scens, with lots of greenery, some smaller trunks of trees in foreground, one of which is bent over, some old vines

below: Measuring the water levels

white measuring stick in the water, to measure water levels, Rouge River,

rouge river, with trees overhanging the water

below: Greater Celandine growing in the shadows.

small yellow flowers on green leafy plant in woods

below: Little pink honeysuckle flowers

little pink flowers on honeysuckle plants along the shores of a river

below: Mayapple among the ferns

spring plants, mayapple and ferns along a path

below: Keep an eye open for poison ivy!

a fallen log on the ground that is starting to rot, with a knot that looks like an eye, some poison ivy is growing beside it along with some other forest plants

below: Another silent threat that lurks here (but won’t give you a rash) is an invasive vine.  “Dog strangling vine”, or Vincetoxicum rossicum, wraps itself around trees and other plants that it encounters.  It is early in the growing season so most of the plants here were still short but there were masses of them.  The lighter beige curved objects that run through the middle of this photo are the remains of last year’s vines.

remains of last year's growth of do strangling vine lie partially hidden in this years growth, in a forest

drying dog strangling vines and seed pods form a web around other plants and trees

forest views, rouge river park

young trees, leaves, and spring growth in the woods

Close by is the old Hillside church built in 1877.

wrought iron details above a metal gate, entrance to churchyard

tombstones, monuments in a churchyard, with an old small concrete bench, small white wood church, Hillside church, in the background

historical society plaque in front of hillside church, white picket fence

Hillside Church – The church opened on Nov 16, 1877 as a branch of the Scarboro circuit of the Methodist Church of Canada to meet the religious needs of this rural community.  The property was given by Mr. and Mrs. John Crawford to the “Trustees of the Mount Zion Congregation”  – namely John Sewell, Peter Reesor, James Ormerod, George Pearse, James Pearse, Robert Stockdale and Thomas Barnard.  Combining to form the Congregation were members of the Bible Christian Church … and the adherents of the former Wesleyan Methodist Church.  Known from its opening as Hillside Church, it continued to serve the area until Church Union in 1925 when the congregation became part of Zion United Church, Markham.  Both the exterior and the interior of the church remain essentially the same as they were in 1877.

below: Someone with surname Thomas once passed this way.  Lived here.  Played here.  The small stone suggests that it was a child, maybe?  Almost 150 years later this little stone, cracked and weathered as it is, still stands in memory of Thomas and the person who cared enough about him to have this stone made and erected in the churchyard.  A few of us stop and linger long enough to think about him but at some point the words will become even more unreadable.

old, faded and cracked tombstone in a cemetery, can read the name Thomas and that he died 188?.

Stone possibly says, Leonard, infant son of ?? Thomas, died July 11 1888 (1889?)

With thanks to Wilfred who suggested checking out the Rouge River and Bailey Bridge! It was a few months ago now but I was waiting for a nice spring day.

Colonel Danforth colours

Posted: October 24, 2022 in locations, nature
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october scene, leaves on trees in different shadesof greens, yellows, and oranges, with blue water of highland creek, as well as reflections of leaves in the water

Colonel Danforth Park is located where Kingston Road and Old Kingston Road pass over the Highland Creek in Scarborough.

people walking by highland creek in october with lots of red leaves on the trees

This past weekend we had some amazing warm and sunny days – great days to spend some time meandering through a park, especially this year when the autumn colours seem so much brighter and plentiful than in past years.  Is it just my imagination or have the colours have also lingered longer?

large deciduous trees with lots of orange and red leaves, october

The north part of the park merges with the grounds of U of T Scarborough campus.

bright orange and red leaves on mid si

people at univerity of toronto scarborough campus tennis courts on lower playing fields, october, trees in bright autumn colours

large group of autumn trees, with lots of leaves on the ground

birch trees in autumn, lots of blue sky too

late afternoon sun low in sky, long shadows, light through tree trunks, with lots of october leaves on the ground

october afternoon in the woods, large mature trees with lots of colourful leaves

afternoon sunlight shining through forest

three tall straight pine trees beside a path

a path through the woods in October, different coloured leaves on the trees, leaves fallen on the path

trees in the woods at Colonel Danforth park, one is dead, the others have colourful leaves, october scene

below:  Seed pods of ‘dog-strangling vine’ (or swallowwort) starting to burst.  This plant is an invasive species.  It is quite pretty at this time of year as the seeds are released and the leaves of the plant turn a silvery colour.  Unfortunately, it is a fast growing vine that quickly climbs other plants such as this young sumac tree.  It will kill that plant.

dog strangling vine growing on young sumac or sumach with red leaves

the remains of a very old tree, a broken stump, very large, beside another tree

below: A wasp nest high up in a tree

large globe shaped wasp nest up in a tree

big fat pine cones growing on a pine tree

large reddish hued pine tree with gnarled trunk in the foreground, benches in the park in the background

below:  Ooops!  “Off roading” taken a bit too far.

a small plastic toy ride on truck stuck on the rocks in a creek

below: Under Kingston Road

three faces, graffiti on concrete supports for a bridge. each face has black hair, one has glasses and their skin is various shades of brown

graffiti on bridge concrete support

tall concrete supports holding up bridge, Kingston Road, over Highland creek and Colonel Danforth park

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historical society plaque for Highland Creek Mills

“Highland Creek Mills
The early settlers of Scarborough used the waters of Highland Creek to provide power for their many saw and grist mills in this valley. The first mill in the township was built here in 1804 by William Cornell who hauled his mill stone from Kingston on his sled. In 1847 William Hellewell built the first of his four mills on this site. Downstream there were saw mills operated by Jordan Post, Stephen Closson, and others. …”

 

There have been discussions recently about the lack of washroom facilities in Toronto parks especially once the city deems summer to be over. There were no facilities that I saw on my walk but I was thankful for the porta-potty that was provided. Not the best but I have seen worse!