As winter slowly released its icy grasp on southern Ontario, I dreamed of wildflowers and visiting some provincial parks to see orchids and rarities. 2025 didn’t turn out the way I expected, though, because I injured a leg and couldn’t walk or drive easily. As May wore on, I got so exasperated I decided to risk all and take a ramble through the Fletcher Creek Ecological Preserve near Puslinch. It’s much closer to home than Rondeau, Pinery, or the Bruce and it hosts several interesting wildflowers. Would I be able to find them before my leg called time out?

In Search of Purple Polygala

When I was young, I always liked a small flower with an unusual shape called Fringed Polygala. It bloomed near the start of black fly season so I didn’t see it every year. And once the blossoms have dropped, it’s leaves are inconspicuous and vaguely look like those of Wintergreen.

While exploring vicariously through other people’s observations on iNaturalist, I discovered Polygala is not uncommon at Fletcher Creek Ecological Preserve. So are Yellow Ladyslipper Orchids. And a cheerful yellow flower called Lakeside Daisy, which is threatened in its few native locations, has been introduced to the limestone quarry alvar here as part of a naturalization project when the quarry was closed.

I decided I couldn’t risk driving hours to a provincial park nor the possibility of long inaccessible trails but I would risk a day trip to Fletcher Creek.

And when I reached a wooded section along the trail: there they were! Dozens, maybe hundreds, of perfect purple flowers.

Almost the Last Day for Canada Mayflower

In two more days, the lovely Canada Mayflowers might have to answer to the name Juneflowers, but on my walk they were still rightly named.

I often see Mayflower leaves in forests near me but seldom see the blossoms. The plants must get large and strong enough to bloom. As someone pointed out, usually the blossoms are on plants with two leaves.

As usual with white flowers, I had trouble getting the blossoms in focus in the shady locations they preferred. You can get a sense, though, of the dainty white flower spikes.

Lakeside Daisies Are Threatened and Attractive

While reading about wildflowers in the Bruce Peninsula National Park, I saw photos of Lakeside Daisies. The cheerful yellow blossoms don’t look like a rarity but in fact they are so specialized they are threatened. They thrive on almost bare limestone rock in locations around the Great Lakes.

At some time around 2003-2008 long after the quarry closed, Guelph university researchers and volunteers planted some alvar species at the preserve as part of a research program aimed at preserving at risk species. Lakeside Daisies were introduced to Fletcher Creek Ecological Preserve. You can read about this in the Hamilton Field Naturalist newsletter. They like it here and are often reported to iNaturalist.

So my second goal was to see if I could find a Lakeside Daisy in bloom. I knew the walk would be much longer than was ‘safe’ but I figured I would try with lots and lots of rest breaks along the trail. And I am proud to report I made it! Although some of the flowers were finishing, several plants were still in full bloom on May 30 2025.

Inspecting While Sitting Helps Naturalist Find Gentians

On my ramble, I stopped and sat on my rollator walker every 3 to 10 metres to rest my injured leg. At each stop, I tried to observe what was around me, whether it was insects, birds or plants. Imagine my surprise when I looked sideways and found I was parked beside a thriving group of Orange-fruited Horse Gentian plants.

The last time I encountered these plants, they were so far off trail I could barely distinguish their blossoms. These ones were right beside the trail encouraging a close inspection! The flowers are tucked into the junction of the leaves and the stem.

You can see that many of the flowers had already finished by the end of May. It’s surprising they don’t show up more to casual passersby since they are bright red but somehow they get over-looked.

When a Fleabane Is a Plantain Does Its Fruit Look Like Bananas?

I’m used to seeing Philadelphia Fleabane. It has lots of pale pink flowers and grows well beside trails in many parks in Mississauga and Oakville. I also am familiar with a plant I call Daisy Fleabane which has lots of white flowers. However, I noticed a plant was reported from Fletcher Creek that has only one or a few large flowers on a long fuzzy stem which is another type of fleabane I was not familiar with yet. So I looked for it when I arrived.

The flower stem is very fuzzy and so are the basal leaves.

This fleabane, called Robin’s Plantain, is very common at Fletcher Creek along the main trail. I had no trouble finding plants to photograph.

The flowers of Robin’s Plantain are quite large and showy.

I saw several insects visiting these flowers including a Clearwing moth.

What I’m unsure of is where it got the name Robin’s Plantain. I haven’t found an easy solution to that puzzle.

This Blue-eyed Girl Looks for Blue-eyed Grass

Another plant I hoped to find, even if I had to cut my trip short, was Blue-eyed Grass. Like Polygala, I haven’t seen any in too many years. So when I found my first blossom I took a lot of photos and applauded myself for being so observant.

A somewhat wilted Blue-eyed Grass blossom.

Then, on my weary way back to the parking lot, I started seeing Blue-eyed Grass all over the place. Apparently it was too early or cool or something when I first arrived for the blossoms to open. On the way back, I saw huge patches of it growing happily along the meadow like parts of the trail.

After agonizing over the three types of Blue-eyed Grass in Ontario, I am 95% sure these are Strict Blue-eyed Grass, also known as Common Blue-eyed Grass.

Another plant sharing these fields was a type of Pussytoes.

These were tall, healthy plants and I’m not sure which type they were. They were delightfully soft looking though.

When my rollator walker and I made it back to the car, I was more than ready to rest. I was very pleased that I had taken the risk, though, especially when my leg seemed no worse the next few days than it had been before the ramble.

I hope next spring I can venture a bit further afield but if not I will consider another wildflower walk at Fletcher Creek Ecological Preserve!

Related Reading

• The Late Spring Butterflies of Fletcher Creek Ecological Preserve