Alberta Wanderings 09

[Hristo]

Hey Cohan,
Wow, everywhere! Nice to have them as a yard weed!
I had a couple of species growing in a bog garden in the UK but had to leave them behind as they would not have surivived the treatment required to pass phytosanitary regulations for importing them to BG!
Happy botanising
Chris

[cohan]

yes, a lawn purist would drop dead here immediately...lol
besides the dandelions and clover lots of violets,maianthemums and cornus canadensis are coming on now, tons of mertensia, geraniums just beginning, then around edges and trees, there are  the honeysuckles, cornus, amelanchier, roses starting now, viburnum, ribes..all common natives, but lovely still..
i am photographing everything...lol

[cohan]

still at the end of may, from my acreage, at the edge of the dry coniferous forest, where it blends into the wet willow area....
Rhododendron (Ledum) groenlandicum
and
Vaccinium vitis-idaea
these grow on mounds formed by old stumps, fallen logs, roots etc, so they are in moist spots, but raised up out of the really wet part, or at the bases of conifers (esp Vaccinium), where it can be very dry, but there are adjacent low spots that stay moist/wet..presumably they could have roots to the wet area?

interestingly, like the Pyrolas i mentioned before, these have looked MUCH  better this year than last, especially Rhodo: last year snow cover was erratic after february, and exposed broadleaf evergreens looked rather distressed by the time there was finally full thaw; this year with much heavier snow until much later (May in some shady spots!) these plants stayed covered until nearer the time they could take up water; as a result, they suffered much less/no winter damage, and i see flower buds on some--i saw no flowers in my local Rhodo population last year..

Carex sp
notice the secondary flower structures halfway down the stalk--i think there are male and female parts involved here, very interesting...
Viola renifolia
cant resist those violets

[cohan]

the most welcome green of the year--the first greening of the deciduous trees!
they are nearly all turned to the darker summer green already now..

[Gerdk]

Viola renifolia
cant resist those violets

Thank you Cohan! There is no need to resist violets - especially this little gem! 
Super focussed pic!
I also admire the beautiful picture of your first greening - here almost over!

Gerd

[cohan]

thanks, gerd--yes, the greening is far advanced here too, as these pictures were several weeks old, and the spring being late here was very fast once it got started!
only grass in fields etc has been behind, as it has been a dry year, not as bad in my area as some other parts of the province (some areas have already lost crops or they did not even germinate, and grass is not growing at all for hay; lots of forest fires too, but far from here) but we are still MUCH  drier than the last two years..
raining today, but it still wont be up to normal, probably..

as for focussing, i am lucky to have a camera that can go right up to subjects, and can focus and/or set light on a very small area..

[Ragged Robin]

Wow, what a difference, Cohan, lovely shots of the green growth rush and the sweet little violet - what is your camera?

[cohan]

Wow, what a difference, Cohan, lovely shots of the green growth rush and the sweet little violet - what is your camera?

thanks, robin--and it already looks completely different again, things are overall very green now...
my camera is a panasonic DMC FZ18

[cohan]

well, having become totally overwhelmed with the business of taking photos, especially over the summer flowering season, and secondarily getting those photos edited a bit, i got totally behind on this thread!
so what i will be doing now, is adding some sets of photos of particular sites or areas, rather than just going chronologically...
these are so far out of date now that i probably shouldnt be putting them in flowers and foliage now--perhaps the whole thing should be moved??

anyway, we are jumping back to early july, to a site just a couple of miles up the road-this is where the multicoloured castillejas were photographed, along with some other things that will go in other threads, mainly--anemones, delphiniums, etc...
i think for expediency, i wont comment too much on each photo, they should be labelled as to species, when/if i know; the view shots lead us down the road, with occasional glimpses of dramatic summer skies when i would look up from the flowers!
this is all private land, so i rarely ventured more than a few metres off the road; all farms, though there are some bits of forest that seem not to be grazed even, just left alone, at the moment;
the same shots, a bit larger, and a few more will be in my picasa album, which i'll add a link to at some point, or just ask...

[cohan]

arriving at the castilleja site, an area at the side of the road, with young/open woods and grass/forbs at the edge of a more mature poplar/mixed forest;
likely this area was cleared in the not too distant past, and if left alone, the poplar saplings will grow in, shading/choking out many of the other plants; a lot of plants also grow right into the roadsides (what we call ditches here--all countryside roadsides) but that is a habitat of doubtful safety--the county has started a program of spraying  for 'weeds' in roadsides--agricultural weeds do spread along the ditches to some extent, but if there is no organised program to remove them from fields and pastures (there is not), spraying ditches will accomplish nothing; another issue is keeping trees from encroaching on the roads and impeding visibility, as well as making it easier for wildlife to dart from cover in front of vehicles...thats valid, but is easily enough achieved with mowing annually, or even every couple of years..this spraying really bothers me, as these are crucial habitats for many species that become overgrown in wooded land, may not like grazing, etc.....

this is where the Castilleja miniata was growing with grasses, poplars, rose, spruce, geraniums, anemone, symphoricarpos etc etc; you can see its just off the gravel road

[cohan]

some other plants in the area--
Aralia nudicaulis
this surprised me, i had previously only seen it farther west, in the edge of the foothills biome; i'll be going back for seeds for my woodland.. this is not as far out as the castilleja, rather, its within and up to the edge of the more mature woods behind..
Sisyrinchium presumably montanum
this was across the road, in a more open grassy area, the largest concentration of the species i have seen in my area; i was completely unable to find the plants later when i went back to look for seeds, as the grass had overgrown them...luckily i found seed at some other sites..
Anemone canadensis
densest in the open up to the edge of the road, but continuing into the edge of the open woods (more pics in another thread, not sure which yet
Thalictrum probably venulosum
a common plant in open areas here; i guess this would be the male flowers...
Rosa acicularis
abundant and vigorous, in its peak at that time..
Rubus idaeus
so common its easily overlooked..

[cohan]

last of this set (which was my first visit to the site, july 01)
some more land and sky scapes along the way...

[Paul T]

Lovely, Cohan.

[cohan]

Lovely, Cohan.

thanks, paul glad you are on to enjoy it...

[Ragged Robin]

Lovely moody cloudscapes, Cohan, and all so different....so many little gems in the grass - the Sisyrinchium is really cute