It started as a walk around Fletcher's Garden but then extended to the Dow's Lake area.
At the main pond there was a bindweed blossom with a female sweat bee checking it out.
At a small pond in the wilder part of the gardens, some small bull frogs were enjoying the sun. (Large bull frogs had been loudly croaking at the main pond)
Down by the Rideau Canal lock station, the bright honeysuckle berries were ripening. One variety of maple tree/bush had a profusion of maple keys (seeds)
Chicory was in bloom and a family of crows was gathered in a dead tree.
Someone in Parks Canada which operates the lock station was a bit creative. In boarding up two windows they painted the plywood to at least look somewhat like windows.
In one stretch of the walking/bike trail leaving the lock station there were a lot of poplar trees. Their fluff was floating by in singles and large groupings.
Further along towards Dow's Lake, flowering rush was in bloom and new cattails were growing.
There were a pair of flickers in a spruce tree, I managed to get a shot of one. (I couldn't get a shot of a kingbird earlier.)
There were no water birds anywhere on the main part of Dow's Lake which was unusual, but in a secluded bay were two families Canada geese with some older goslings, one group a week or two older than the other. To our surprise there was also a wood duck family.
Some very small field bindweed was blooming in the grass
Comfrey was in the last stages of, or finished, blooming.
Walking through the Experimental Farms' Arboretum we came across three western catalpa trees. These trees are native to the central USA, but will grow in most areas of (non-arctic) North America. The flowers are almost orchid like. The seed pods are long and a deep brown.
Returning to Fletcher Garden, we passed by some lupine that were finishing blooming, with some stems having large seed pods.
