It is my habit each season to stop by at the Canadian Museum of Nature and document the Landscapes Of Canada Gardens. This is on the west side of the property, and features trees, bushes, shrubs, flowers, plants, and grasses from four distinct ecosystems in the country. The first is Boreal Forest, an ecosystem occupying a vast swath of the nation.
Larch trees are characteristic of the boreal forest. These are deciduous trees whose leaves look like coniferous needles. Each fall they start to turn golden yellow and drop. There's a tree here that was just in the first stages of that.
This tree was at its peak.
Nearby, signage for the Prairie Grasslands, the next ecosystem represented here. Grasses, plants, and flowers from the Canadian west have been transplanted here.
This time of year, their growing season has been completed.
A steel sculpture crosses the path. This iceberg is the work of the late Canadian inventor and artist William Lishman.
The third ecosystem lies between the sculpture and the west perimeter of the property. The Arctic Tundra is represented by plants, grasses, and shrubs planted among the rocks. They do well over an Ottawa summer.
The fourth ecosystem lies on the north side of the path as it curves back to the museum. It is the Mammoth Steppe, with plants that existed in the days of those animals and that still thrive today. These pretty purple blooms caught my eye.
The path continued, with another tree at its peak.
A sculpture family of mammoths is found here at the end of the path. Beyond is the Museum, with its glass lantern containing a model of the Moon.
