Spring Flowers in the Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada

[Tony Willis]

Does it have to be pot-grown?  I saw this plant in the vicinity of Banff, climate http://www.world-guides.com/north-america/canada/alberta/banff/banff_weather.html .  Compare this to, say, Stirling then peak summer temperatures are similar but  Banff experiences a much longer colder winter.  So surely the only useful thing a pot can provide is good drainage and less winter wet than is normal hereabouts?  Those are conditions you might be able to achieve in the ground with a little care.  Or am I being naïve?

It needs to be moist all year round with just a little less water in summer when it is dormant.

It does not grow in the 'ground', it grows in a few inches of pine duff over the soil,not easy to replicate ouside of a pot.

[Lori S.]

I hope you had a great time out here!
After the calypso orchid photos, the first one is Trollius albiflorus, then Pulsatilla patens, 5 photos of Anemone parviflora (or so they all look to me), then Fragaria virginiana.
I can't imagine growing calypso orchid in a pot either (but maybe that's just me... the notion of growing anything in pots doesn't really enter my consciousness).  Is it a good year for them?  They can extremely thick... I saw thousands of big robust plants one spring in the forests around Lake Louise!  Guess I'd best get out there to see for myself!

[Lori S.]

"Pleasant springs in Banff lead onto a warm and appealing summer climate"... that's tourist-brochure-speak for "cold".   

[Alan_b]

... I saw thousands of big robust plants one spring in the forests around Lake Louise!  Guess I'd best get out there to see for myself!

Go quick, I left one week ago so I don't know how long the Calypso flowers will last.  Thanks for help in identifying some of the other flowers.  We did indeed have a great time. 

[Maggi Young]

  They can extremely thick... I saw thousands of big robust plants one spring in the forests around Lake Louise!  Guess I'd best get out there to see for myself!

Good grief! The very thought makes me hyperventilate. What a wonderful sight that must be.

[Alan_b]

One for the true rock gardener, I think it must be Androsace chamaejasme, Rock Jasmine

[Alan_b]

Views taken along a road called the Icefields Parkway that runs between Lake Louise and Jasper passing through the Columbia Icefields.  Bow Lake, source of the Bow River which flows down the valley through Banff and eventually through Calgary. About half of my 'Anemone' photos come from the lake shore, where I also photographed a small red plant that I cannot identify.  Nearby, the impossibly blue Peyto Lake; I have not tampered with the photograph, it really was that colour.

[Alan_b]

A rainbow in spray at Mistaya Canyon and some of the tiny plants growing by the path on the walk down from the road to the canyon.

[Maggi Young]

I'm enjoying all these photos - the scenery is so majestic - but that rainbow in the spray shot is a stunner!

[Peter Maguire]

That small red plant has leaves that remind me of a Pedicularis - I think some of them are reddish when they first appear, then become greener with time.

[Lori S.]

The red plant is indeed Pedicularis groenlandica.  The Androsace is correctly ID'd - it's actually very easy to grow (in cold, dry climates, at least).

(P.S.  Well, it doesn't look like an orchid walk is in the works for this weekend... the Trans-Canada highway and also the 1A bypass are closed at Canmore due to extreme flooding of Cougar Creek (which I'm not sure if I've ever even seen water in before)!  Take a look at the videos at the bottom of this news article:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/20/calgary-canmore-flooding-emergency-w.html

Lots of flooding and neighbourhoods adjacent to the floodplains of the Bow and Elbow Rivers being evacuated in Calgary too.  Good heavens, I'm glad we live up in the highlands!  )

[Alan_b]

Ruddy heck, we were staying just up the road from Cougar Creek, which was as wide as the Bow River in Canmore but appeared completely dry when we were there.  And we had lovely weather for our 8 days, ending last Thursday!

[Alan_b]

According to my book, Pedicularis groenlandica has the common name ' Elephanthead' because the individual flowers on the spike resemble the head of an elephant, a pink one at that!

Geum triflorum (I think) known as 'Old Man's Whiskers', 'Three-flowered Avens' or 'Prairie Smoke'.
Clematis columbiana, known as 'Blue Clematis' or 'Purple Virgin's Bower'.
A plant with blue grass-like leaves (a bit like a small iris) that was very prolific in the woods west of Canmore.  We found one in tight bud but it was too early to find any in flowers so I never identified it.
Lastly a view looking over the reservoir and on to the town of Canmore in the valley.  The now-flooded 'Cougar Creek' descends from the far mountains and will be somewhere over towards the right of the picture. 

[Lori S.]

Yes, Geum triflorum, and the plant with bluish grass-like leaves is Zigadenus, either Zigadenus elegans (very common and very beautiful) or Zigadenus venenosus.

Too bad it was so early.  I wish you'd seen the "elephanthead" in bloom... I think seeing pink elephants would make anyone smile! 
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=3949.msg104101#msg104101

[johnw]

Lori - I hope all's well with you and family given the horrible flooding in Calgary.

johnw