As the father of four children, I have spent many hours in various East York parks that have playground equipment. During this year’s March break, I am going to revisit one each day and make a post of some of the nature that I find there.

Gamble playground is a small, fenced area which contains playground equipment and a wading pool.

A good variety of trees have been planted here and some are quite large.

Here is Scots Pine with White Spruce in the background.

The orange, flaky upper bark of Scots Pine;

White Spruce;

Cones;

Cones on the ground;

White Pine (left) and Colorado Spruce (right);

White Pine cone;

Colorado Spruce cone;

Thornless Honey Locust;

London Plane leaves;

The “military fatigues” look of London Plane bark;

Signs of a rambunctious child;

Ohio Buckeye;

Tree of Heaven;

Bur Oak;

Some green leaves are already showing.

Motherwort;

Celandine;

Here are some of the planted shrubs.

Red Osier Dogwood;

Golden Dogwood;

Japanese Yew;

Some plants are managing to grow despite being boxed in between the fence and private yards.

Lilac;

White Mulberry;

Tree of Heaven;

Manitoba Maple;

Miles Hearn