I walked in the Glen Canyon Regional Park today. Two things were on my mind, Myrtle Spurge---I had been wondering if that invasive plant had shown up again this year---and Pink Columbines—as I had found them in the park several years in a row but not last year. I wondered if they had died out.

I did find one plant of Myrtle Spurge. This I pulled carefully to get all of its tap root. 

I will keep watch on that area of the park to remove any other Myrtle Spurge plants that show up.

Use gloves to handle spurge. Its milky, white sap is very toxic to skin and mucous membranes.

I believe the perennial columbines are still there. In an area near the creek, where I had found them in other years, there are plants resembling columbines with the characteristic leaves divided into three lobes. These plants were only about 30 CM tall, whereas usually when I find them in bloom, they are a metre or more in height. I looked up the various columbine species and I see that the scientific name of our common red or Sitka Columbine is Aquilegia formosa, whereas the picture of one of these pink columbines that I sent in to E Flora was identified as Aquilegia vulgaris, the European Columbine, known to come in a variety of colours, including pink.

There are several other non-native plants in and around the meadows in the park, for examples Norway Maple, Asparagus and Blue Iris. Perhaps someone once lived in that part of the Powers Creek valley. Up until about 10 years ago, the meadows were irrigated and used to pasture horses.