Reports

Bow Valley Provincial Park Walk June 26

Terry, the intrepid bus driver, drove twelve of us to Bow Valley Provincial Park where we enjoyed a lovely walk around the Many Springs Trail. Along the way, we enjoyed a variety of spring flowers from the brilliant western wood lily to the demure bracted orchid. The following is a list of species we discovered:

Cut-leaved anemone

Twinflower

Yellow dryad

Shrubby cinquefoil

Bracted orchid

Western wood lily

Blue clematis

Western Canada violet

Star-flowered Solomon’s Seal (berries)

Wild Rose

Red osier dogwood

Pale Comandra

Northern bedstraw

White camas

Cut-leaved anemone

Meadow rue

Red paintbrush

Birchleaf spiraea

Bronze bells

Wild strawberry

Wolf willow

Late yellow locoweed

Buffaloberry (berries)

Brown-eyed Susan (Gaillardia)

Meadow Parsnip

Groundsel sp.

Common pink wintergreen

Bearberry

Showy locoweed

Elephanthead

Common harebell

Wild clover

Wild blue flax

River alder

Northern black currant?

Purple vetch

Yellow peavine?

Northern hedysarum

Sweet cicely

Grade 6 vs Banff Seniors Softball Game

The annual baseball game with the Grade 6s was most entertaining. A small number of seniors came to play or to cheer everyone on. Some students joined our team to even out the numbers. Other students acted as runners for the seniors who weren’t sure if they could make it all around the bases.

The students had been practising so they were able to catch the ball. We played a few innings with very relaxed rules, which made the event most enjoyable. The students were very patient and encouraging. We all enjoyed slices of watermelon after the game and before the skies opened with a deluge. Below is our star player Liz, at bat.

Report on the Banff Senior’s June 15, 2023 Nature Walk

Two of us set off on a walk to look for wildflowers. We found all these species in bloom within a 15-minute leisurely walk from the Banff Seniors Centre.    

• Bunchberry
• Wild Strawberry
• Dandelion
• Elephant-head
• Mountain Shootingstar
• Common Butterwort
• Common Pink Wintergreen
• One-sided Wintergreen
• Alpine Bistort (I think)
• Meadow Parsnip
• Northern Green Bog Orchid
• Round-leaved Orchid
• Sparrow’s-egg Lady-slipper
• Wolf Willow
• Twining Honeysuckle
• Star-flowered Solomon’s-seal
• Vetch sp.
• Northern Bedstraw
• Twinflower
• Yellow Coralroot
• Early Blue Violet
• Prickly Rose
• Groundsel sp.
• Red Clover
• Sticky Asphodel
• Pussytoes sp.
• Wire Sedge?
• Tall Buttercup (invasive)