a drive along the river

Two weekends ago, my husband and I took a favourite drive along part of the Saint John River in New Brunswick. The Jemseg Ferry Road is a short loop, beginning at the Scovil side of the ferry at Gagetown and continuing along a meandering road to Lower Jemseg. The area is a cluster of bogans, ponds and meadows where we often see osprey and eagles, ducks and turtles. Once, many years ago, we saw a glossy ibis and I added it to my life list of birds.

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On our drive, we were amazed at the blooms of swamp (or giant) sunflower along the river banks. This sunflower has yellow petals (not dark towards the base), lanceolate (long narrow) leaves, alternate leaves, and a magenta stem. Helianthus giganteus, a relative of the cultivated sunflower, is not native but an escape. Crowds of the flowers followed the road and framed almost every view of the river.

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The sun was setting as we drove along and the yellow flowers were all facing the west. This tilting of the flower head to follow the sun is known as heliotropism.

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As you can see from the colour in the trees in the photos, we have only a short time to enjoy these beautiful fall flowers. We drove the same road just yesterday and most of the flower were already gone.

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)