Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: cohan on July 04, 2009, 07:13:59 PM
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i couldnt resist throwing in a title in homage to our bulgarian connection ;)
this is a recent day trip to southern alberta, in search of native cacti, among other things..
i'll probably only just get this started now, continue later..
first post is a bit dull, just some background:
i am in the mixed forest zone where boreal forest meets aspen parkland, and as you go east and south--this trip had lots of both--you move more and more away from the forest into drier more open country, and the vegetation changes a lot...
first just a few shots from the car, starting near home; of course much of this farmland, so there is a lot of clearing in my area, just notice that there are bands of forest around fields and anywhere not cleared; once you are much farther south/east, there are trees only in low/wet areas and around homes where they have been planted; even wild growth in roadsides becomes much lower as you go ..
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the town of drumheller, worldfamous for dinosaur fossils, is in the Red Deer River Valley; this river passes not far from here, in the city of red deer, our nearest city, around 90,000 population; but up here, the valley is forested;
in the south, much drier and warmer, the valley shows many many features of erosion, and has a vibrant xeric plant community on the slopes, and other things in lower areas where water collects, and near the river; some spots are nearly barren, most have many plants taking advantage of the clayey soil, which presumably holds what water there is fairly well... some cling ot precarious spots among the rocks...
here's the first stop we made, just at the edge of town limits, near the smaller town of Nacmine..
note large patch of wild roses in the second shot; wild flax in the fourth shot..
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Cohan,
Amazingly open and bare countryside. I would miss the presence of trees and I say that living in Ireland which has quite a very low percentage of land given to afforestation. I imagine that in your own garden you plant plenty of trees to clothe the ground.
Interesting photographs and report. Many thanks, Paddy
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Amazingly open and bare countryside.
Cohan, that is exactly what I was thinking. We have seen many pictures here on the Forum from Canada with beautiful places and plants,
but this area seems to be rather dull, isn't it?
Must not think of driving hours on such sraight on roads ::) ::)
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It wasn't always so dull... intensive agriculture has cleared vast areas of what was formerly rather interesting mixed forest and deciduous parkland, and has also put to the plough huge expanses of what used to be rich environments of long-and short-grass prairie, and replaced it with the monocultures you see now in those introductory photos... :(
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Watched an old Rick Stein programme last night. He was in Greece and compared Greek cuisine to that of Turkey. BOY!!! were those Greeks prickly. ;D
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While the plants themselves would be different, so many of yours pictures could have been taken in Australia, Cohan. Very similar countryside to assorted parts of Aus. I'd never thought of Cactus as growing up in Canada, but it does make sense when you think about it. I think Kristl has talked about them at various times, but the link is only just penetrating into my thick skull. ::) I tend to lump Canada into the "cold" idea in my mind, much as most people probably think of Australia as "hot", when in fact there is such a wide variety of climates within the country that you can find everything from topical (OK, I am not expecting real tropical in Canada, given how far north you are ;)) to alpine regions and cool rainforests etc. Given you in Canada stretch from warmer coastal to glacial I have to refix in my mind just how variable you are. Seeing topics like this really does help, as it puts new "pictures" in my mind of Canada, if you know what I mean.
So thanks so much for the re-education. 8)
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thanks for looking, all..
luit--as lori points out, much of this landscape has been severely altered by agriculture--for me the 'worst' part is maybe about halfway from here to the drumheller area--- this area would be partly grassland with some woods in the sheltered and moister areas between hills, but much of that has been cleared, and the grasslands have mostly been put to the plow in favour of large expanses of cultivated crops and some forage areas; this is the most monotonous area, with little interesting flora visible on the roadsides--mostly escaped forage crops and grasses..
once you get farther south, there are more rough gullies that are not suitable to plowing, and some drier places better for grazing than crops--then you get more remnants of the native prairie flora, which is actually quite interesting--many of those fascinating small things you need to get near to appreciate...
to be fair to the 'bare' lands, these are just snapshots through the car windows, on a mostly bright day giving high contrasts and not very nice images; when you are in those places, the vast expanse of land and sky--usually not flat, rather long rolling hills and sudden dips are more common-- has its own beauty..
but my real objective in this trip we are just getting to: the river valley, carved deep into that prairie landscape, steep slopes of clay and stone--sandstone, petrified tree boulders, ironstone gravels with artemesia and cacti and hymenoxis and eriogonum etc etc.. definitely not flat, sometimes barren, but in many areas full of species adapted to the harsh conditions..
paul--we all tend to simplify distant lands to a few basic ideas, and canada's are probably snow, wheat and coniferous forests...lol; but yes, we range from a basically mediterranean wet winter dry summer zone 8 or so on southern british columbia coast, to true desert in southern b.c. interior, and near desert/desert look in southern alberta, mountain rain forest, dry montane valleys, many zones of plains and prairies, boreal forest, endless bogs and muskegs to the (once) vast deciduous forest of the east--where it may not be the tropics, but sure feels like it in summer with 30+degrees and high humidity..
paddy--my gardening is mostly about trying to REMOVE trees...lol, remove roots for every inch of soil i want to cultivate, try to find some sunny patches, constantly mow and pull suckers, and weed out tree seedlings ;)
i grew up with the forest near/around, and love it dearly, but many years in the shadow of skyscrapers in big cities has given me a GREAT appreciation for open spaces and uninterrupted sun! my ideal spot would have forest behind some smaller trees shrubs to the sides for shelter, and open in the south to the sun!
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plants from the first site, near nacmine, alberta;
note the state of most of the plants--fairly plump and green--they've had a reasonable amount of water; as we went farther south/east along the valley, it naturally becomes drier, and definitely this year: note pulsatilla at this site, fit and green, farther along, it was half shrivelled...
like everywhere, lots of compositae, not least of which the
Artemisia
(i havent sorted them out) and similar---silvery sage brush, large and small, emblematic of dry areas in the north american west.. green foliage is fine, but the silvers and greys, glaucous xeric foliage are among my favourites...
with new input from lori-thanks--i still think the main bush in 1 is likely an artemesia; the close-up is
Eurotia or Krascheninnikovia! lanata
which is in the goosefoot family! and valued as winter forage, so called 'winter fat' neat
Packera cana (Senecio canus)
also with silvery leaves, and typical yellow senecio flowers..
common amongst grasses and other forbs and shrubs
Linum perenne
the blue flowers happy at this site, rather dried up later on;
also note in the previous post a large drift of wild roses in flower, this was the one floral constant in the
trip, from home all the way south, the floral emblem of alberta was in full swing...
less expected in a site like this, a tiny
fern sp
havent been able to tie this to anything in the book i have; roots in the shade, importantly, but fronds out in full sun...
one that i missed flowering on
Phlox hoodii
prickly little carpets, still greenish now, when i went a bit later last year, they were near dead looking
not fully happy with the id, but dont have a better one.
Symphoricarpos occidentalis w/ Achillea sp
both general are very widespread in alberta, species i'm less clear on..
another spring bloomer, and seemingly as ubiquitous as Achillea
Viola sp prob adunca
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Cohan,
Well you've added one extra in there for me for Canada.... I didn't realise you had true desert either. :o
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paul--i will try to look up a link and send it--in the southern interior of b.c., there is a patch of desert that is an extension of the great (forgetting actual name here) desert that extends from mexico north!
on with plants of site one:
there are many lovely flowers in this area, but a real part of the charm is the range of textures and colours of foliage;
i thought these were artemisia-turns out they are not even compositae--Chenopodiaceae!
Eurotia or Krascheninnikovia lanata
these just look so soft and touchable; interestingly, i didnt--rushing to the next shot and back to the car...lol
Juniperus horizontalis
not as big a feature in the landscape as in foothills/mountains, but still common; not in the very driest spots..
leaves of
Pulsatilla patens Geum triflorum phlox hoodii
Galium boreale
i can become blase about this species, it is so common here, forming nice clumps in the ditches; down south, more restrained
another yellow 'daisy'
Hymenoxys richardsonii
this charmer was widespread, often in the harshest spots, clinging to overhangs, slopes, rocks; interestingly for a daisy, it has a woody base from which the thin seasonal stems sprout; rather caudiciform...
the first appearance of our yellow umbrellas,
Eriogonum flavum
one of the highlights of this trip, as i had never seen eriogonums in person before (prob leaves, but i didnt know!)..
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lesley- here begin the prickly greeks ;)
although i know well that there are cacti growing in canada, still, as someone who has grown cacti indoors forever, its very exciting to see them growing wild; in fact Opuntia polyacantha and Opuntia fragilis are very common down south, and make some forays much farther north--O fragilis all the way up to the peace river area in northern alberta..
i THINK all the sites i looked at this year had O polyacantha, i did not see any real cylindrical fragilis stems, but there was a fair amount of variation in pad size; hard to tell where environmental conditions end and hybridisation begins--the two species do intergrade: last year i photographed a site with every pad form from classic large flat polyacantha to small cylindrical fragilis..
by the end of the day, i wasnt that excited about Opuntia anymore (nor will you be ;) ) but the flowers really are lovely...
some were clinging to rather tough spots, as you might expect from cactus, but in fact more of them were among grasses and other plants, in less extreme locations; eriogonum, hymenoxys, artemisia were in the toughest places...
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Great photo essay, Cohan! Looks like they've had more rain down Drumheller way than in the Big Island/Three Hills area. Nice to see greener and more vigorous looking examples of the characteristic flora.
paul--i will try to look up a link and send it--in the southern interior of b.c., there is a patch of desert that is an extension of the great (forgetting actual name here) desert that extends from mexico north!
Cohan, I've read that spiel too.. frankly, it's a bit of license on the part of the local chambers of commerce! (They make the bald assertion that the Osoyoos area is part and parcel of the Sonoran Desert, but given that the characteristic plants of the Sonoran desert don't/can't occur in the area, and have ranges that are separated from that area by various geographical boundaries, the degree of exaggeration is quite appalling.) An extension of the Great Basin Desert, sure, but not the Sonoran! Sorry, back to your regular programming, now that I've got that off my chest!
Loving the photos, Cohan. I know you have more... please continue!
PS I believe your first two photos ("Artemisia sp")in the entry two above this one are actually winter fat, Eurotia lanata... nice find! Lovely wooliness, I'd like to grow that out in the yard!
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I'm enjoying this post immensely Cohan, great to see parts of the world being posted by Lori and yourself that I will probably never see for real.
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Great photo essay, Cohan! Looks like they've had more rain down Drumheller way than in the Big Island/Three Hills area. Nice to see greener and more vigorous looking examples of the characteristic flora.
paul--i will try to look up a link and send it--in the southern interior of b.c., there is a patch of desert that is an extension of the great (forgetting actual name here) desert that extends from mexico north!
Cohan, I've read that spiel too.. frankly, it's a bit of license on the part of the local chambers of commerce! (They make the bald assertion that the Osoyoos area is part and parcel of the Sonoran Desert, but given that the characteristic plants of the Sonoran desert don't/can't occur in the area, and have ranges that are separated from that area by various geographical boundaries, the degree of exaggeration is quite appalling.) An extension of the Great Basin Desert, sure, but not the Sonoran! Sorry, back to your regular programming, now that I've got that off my chest!
PS I believe your first two photos ("Artemisia sp")in the entry two above this one are actually winter fat, Eurotia lanata... nice find! Lovely wooliness, I'd like to grow that out in the yard!
thanks for the input lori--
as the photos progress, you will see it was much drier farther south--i also photographed at East Coulee and just around the corner from the official Hoodoos site, plants looked much more stressed
great call on the Eurotia, i knew i wasnt finding a match in the few artemisia i have listed, but i never would have thought to look in Chenopodiaceae; i edited the above postings to reflect the correct name; i agree its a great plant--i did take a couple of cuttings of one of the white fuzzies, cant remember now if it was this or another, we'll see if it roots for me... as a sidebar--how do feel about names in Plants of Alberta (Royer/Dickinson)? up to date? trendy? a few years out of date? they list Krascheninnikova in place of Eurotia...
oops-forgot to talk about the desert thing--i had wondered about geographical barriers, hadnt looked at a topo features map to investigate; i guess i had thought of it as looser extension of desert up through those various areas, but a specific extension of the sonoran seems harder to defend...--a series of deserts leading up to that area seems reasonable enough...
david--glad you are enjoying the trip...
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Very surprising to see the Opuntia species in Canada (though I know there are Andean, hardy cactus species :)). They must be tough as old boots.
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Oh, sorry - yes, Krascheninnikovia lanata has apparently replaced Eurotia lanata. I can never remember which name has superceded which! (Not to imply that I'm overly familiar with the plant anyway; I was just thinking about it and wondering if we'd overlooked it at Dry Island.)
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Very surprising to see the Opuntia species in Canada (though I know there are Andean, hardy cactus species :)). They must be tough as old boots.
they sure are tough, lesley--and remember fragilis occurs in the extreme northwest of alberta--hours farther north than me!
i have seen opuntia sit out all winter (-40 lows)in regular plastic pots and come through unfazed, among the hardiest plants there are!
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onward to the next site, south and east farther through the Red Deer River Valley, past the town of Drumheller..we drove on farther south since one of my wishes for this trip was to find the only confirmed non-opuntia cactus in canada-Escobaria vivipara, and they just barely begin in the drumheller area..
well we drove some ways, but although the landscape was getting drier, and there may well have been interesting plants in the hills, the area was all fenced (grazing, i suppose, though we didnt see any livestock) right up to the roadside, so no place to stop and look for plants..time being limited, we turned around and drove back, finding our next stopping place (last photo) right across from the town of East Coulee..
only about 30 kilometres from our first stop, but noticeably drier..
shots 5 and 6 show an old wooden grain elevator--used to store, ship grain etc in the old days; there are only a handful left in alberta (used to be one in nearly every small farming town), and some of those have been restored; not this one yet, but there is one north of drumheller that has been maintained and is being used privately...
also note, as you go farther south in the valley, it becomes much wider, with extra hills from old eroded valley walls, with the present valley walls farther back; its probably at its widest near the actual town of drumheller..there are wonderful yards (in natural potential, not in their current use...lol) with little miniature hills with sedimentary layers and rocks exposed..imagine having that in your yard to garden!..i dont mean city lots..acreages..
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site 2: directly across from the town of East Coulee; just south/east of Drumheller, Alberta, about 30km from our first stop at Nacmine..
i haven't looked it up, but i think there must have been some kind of-mine? home? farm? business? something on top of this hill, as there were timbers and pieces of metal laying around, and some signs of excavation..also a roadway that leads partway up, through escaped agricultural forage plants etc, then some trails on the higher areas... i speculate the area is popular with nature hikers, and/or local teens who might hang out up there (although i didnt see any beer bottles or litter...lol)..
it doesnt look that high from the bottom, but look for the shots looking down on the town, and our little van sitting at the bottom...
the geology of the valley is interesting--varying sedimentary layers exposed and eroding, so you get all sorts of unrelated rocks side by side--some areas are just clay, then you see ironstone, and red rock and sandstone etc etc..all very arty..
lots of Opuntias at this site, again, and sometimes in the exposed rocky spots, though again, the most harsh locations are more likely occupied by Eriogonum, Hymenoxys, Artemisia etc...
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Opuntia: from a prickly plant growing near Opos, in ancient Greece..
site 2, East Coulee, Alberta
the largest patches are often found on slopes, where no doubt both fruit and pads roll downhill to germinate/root..
the specimen growing from 'pure rock'(no doubt there are veins of clay behind) is the exception, more typically they grow among grasses and other vegetation, which give a bit of shelter, and probably trap moisture, especially snow..
i was very impressed to see the 'red' buds in second last photo, only realised in looking at the photo that those are probably aborted...lol--nature is lovely even in retreat ;) next shot shows normal bud colour..
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the two Opuntia species in alberta, O fragilis (small oval/cylindrical pads, easily detached) and O polyacantha (large flat pads) intergrade in some locations; last year i looked at a site where there was every form from one extreme to the other; this year i mostly saw plants that look like polyacantha, though i saw a couple that were smaller/ambiguous--hard to tell at times if its environment or genes, but a couple of these i realise more in the photos clearly had fragilis looking pads...
plus some close-ups of the always lovely opuntia flowers...
4 and 5 show the past prime flowers fading to bronzey yellow..
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Krascheninnikovia lanata
First read that as Kaleshnikovia. A plant with explosive pods no doubt, even if I can't spell it properly. ;D You wouldn't want to lose your balance and go rolling down that hill Cohan.
I wonder do the Opuntias have a sort of internal anti-freeze fluid as some plants do, in order to stop them freezing to death? Some insects likewise, like our alpine wetas.
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The area had an active coal-mining industry until into the '60's (amazingly)... it is quite likely the traces of old machinery and timbers you saw on the butte in East Coulee was associated with coal mining... a good reason to be a little careful while exploring there (many open shafts)! Did you happen to stop at the Atlas Coal Mine in East Coulee?
Terrific opuntia pix!
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thanks for commenting-
lesley--it certainly is a mouthful- Krascheninnikovia lanata --explosive pods or not...lol; i wonder if it has any edibility for humans, as do so many in that family--spinach, beets, chard,orache, sorrel, lambsquarters, goosefoot, quinoa, etc!
lori--mining is what i was thinking of too, though i wasnt sure how widespread that was; there was one visible hole, which looked more like a well than a mine shaft; could have been ventilation, perhaps...
when i went to drumheller on a 2 or 3 day school trip at the end of grade 6--so i guess that should be '77-- we toured a coal mine, among other things...havent been since; we didnt go into the town of east coulee at all, just passed along the highway...
last year i was later and caught just a few opuntia in flower, this year there were more..
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If you ever have the time and inclination (and like such things), the Atlas Coal Mine at East Coulee is worth a visit... you may have seen it from the road. The young lady (from a coal-mining family) who gave us a tour spoke very entertainingly about life in the times, and the walk through the coal tipple and descriptions of different machinery used through time was very interesting! (Pit ponies were used for a surprisingly long time to haul the coal to surface.) Also (hope I'm not letting any cats out of bags by mentioning this), driving in to the old coal-mining town of Wayne, across the 11-12 (? - I forget) bridges, for a burger and a beer at the saloon, is quite fun! (Actually, neither of these is the kind of thing we'd likely do on our own, but both were part of a work-related field trip (tough job, I know! ;)), and were quite enjoyable.
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i've certainly seen the mine name, and possibly signs, though my focus is pretty tight on plants on these trips...lol. so anything not related is likely not registered in my brain...
yeah, sounds like a tough job ;) good sometimes to get pushed a bit out of regular routines to do something different...
we dont do either burgers or beer, our pit stops lean more to coffee and sweets...lol
lesley--i meant to mention, re: anti-freeze in cacti; i know there has been some research into how they (and other plants) take those deep freezes, and i dont remember all the results/theories; i do know that a crucial aspect for most hardy cacti is a pre-winter shrivelling--the theory being that if they were turgid when they froze, the ice crystals would burst the plant; fall weather that is too 'nice' -i.e. warm and moist, and so doesnt trigger dormancy preparations, can cause problems for this reason...these northern opuntia are amongst the most resilient in regards to moisture and dormancy, though...
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still at site 2:
a few odds and ends-- a nice patch of
Hymenoxys richardsonii
growing with Artemisia frigida , possibly A longifolia and others...
taken with telephoto down a bank, so not a great shot; plus a cropped view, enhanced a bit to show the massive woody bases and exposed roots of the hymenoxys..
a complete
unknown
flowers not open, so no help...i feel like i should know, but can't think of it...
a nice little community including
Packera cana, Phlox hoodii, and Eriogonum flavum
another unknown, this one is blurry, as it just refused to stop moving in the wind! i had no idea before, but since Chenopodiaceae came up, it seems this could be
Atriplex falcata (nutallii)
though i haven't found a good picture to confirm that; i'd like to grow this, since its edible, neat looking, native, drought resistant--what more could you want?? don't know if i will get back for seeds though :(
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last one for site 2:
my holy grail for this trip, the ball or 'Pincushion Cactus'
Escobaria vivipara
i didn't get far enough south or find any good stopping sites, in order to find the larger populations of this species that exist---it is quite common in southern alberta.. BUT at least i found 1 plant! not in flower, unfortunately, and no seeds...oh well, another time..
and one of the most exciting finds of the day, unexpected, was
Eriogonum flavum
semi common at this site, often in very exposed, harsh locations, cliff edges and odd spots that were hard to get to to shoot, so not many close-ups; i assume the plant with different colours i the flowers has older flowers, or maybe just a colour variation..
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Fascinating stuff Cohan !!! Simply fascinating !! :o
A really "odd" area you're making us discover !!
Can't wait to see more. :D
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Thank you Cohan for taking us with you!
I enjoyed each part and (like Luc) being full of expectation for the following ones!
Gerd
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thanks, luc and gerd :)
only one more stop to come, not too many more photos..
then it will be time to get back to flowers in my area!
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last stop, site 3:
right around the corner from the official Hoodoo site, where people pack into 20square metres to see the best examples --the hoodoos are natural rock formations, created when a harder stone cap is left sticking out on top of more eroded lower layers of sandstone, clay etc..there are examples of the process in some of my photos, but there are very few of the really extreme formations, thats why everyone crams themselves into that tiny area where they exist...lol
just around the corner on the narrow access road, there is virtually no one (an ocasional hiker)..
these side valleys are eroded from the prairie above where water has washed down over time..
you can see the very dry valley walls, then more or less flat grassy areas between, and in the middle will be the area where the water flows when there is heavy rain or snow melt...these different zones present various habitats with differing amounts of water..
in the second pic, you see a larger side valley (where we drive in, but not where i took most of the photos) with a stream bed,(over to the right among the greenery) no flowing water now, but still wet in the middle; around this area are growing willows and other moisture loving vegetation
third photo, Linum perenne and Achillea in the grassy area up the side valley
four, five, six the wide grassy area between valley walls, full of Opuntia and various flowers scattered about
seven and eight show the interesting geology--various rocks and stones washing out of different sedimentary layers, such as these big chunks of what i think are petrified wood
nine shows the dry wash coming down between valley walls, farther down it widens, and again supports shrubs, willows etc near the end where moisture gathers
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more views from site 3:
one a sandstone etc valley face, where you can see the hoodoo type formations, on a small scale..
two another view of the eroded valley walls..
three and four Artemesia? and Hymenoxys hows that for a natural rock garden??
five more rock gardening by nature, with what appears to be a small Prunus? (chokecherry or similar)
six i'm assuming from the very smooth clay/sand surface in the front, plus the fact that the cacti are half buried, and the distribution of the cacti--spreading out where likely pads have rooted--that this area experienced some degree of flooding at some point, where water coming down the slopes and/or through the valley piled up the debris, pooled there depositing sediment, and spread the cactus pads..don't know where those dead trees came from, didnt see anything that big up-valley(not big trees, but big for around there)
seven this time, the garden is right on the rock!
eight part of the dry stream bed that runs down the middle of the valley; must be some moisture at some point--see the moss! but presence of Hymenoxys suggests its more dry than not
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last shots from site 3:
lots of opuntias flowering, a few other things,
i didn't see many peas, overall, i think they probably flowered earlier, generally, but one nice one, maybe
Astragalus laxmannii var robustior
only even kind of match in my book...
Antennaria sp
i have seen one or another at virtually every site i have been to in alberta (not that i have been everywhere!) note again the shrivelling Pulsatilla behind it
Hymenoxys richardsonii
dotted everywhere, mostly looking past prime, but still bright...
and just a couple more
Opuntia flowers.....
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finally to end this trip, we drove some distance further south, hoping to see some more Escobaria habitat, and while the countryside was definitely getting drier, we didn't see any good places to stop, and when we reached the transcanada highway, we turned back west, toward calgary and from there the fast highway home...
we made a little detour into downtown calgary, where my friend got a big pile of cheap kung-fu movies in chinatown! and we stopped for coffee and treats before heading home!
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Wonderful, Cohan. Love that Astragalus.
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I'm loving these trips, Cohan. Enjoying the coffee and treats, too! Thanks!
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I'll second that Paul. Though you do have me glad that you are in Australia! Only in that there were occasionally Astragalus/ Oxytropis for sale at members stalls at various AGS shows I have been too- I think if you'd been there we would have been elbowing each other out of the way!
Some great pics again Cohan- lovey to see how dry it all looks- but I guess these hidden seams of clay etc. are helping some of the plant communities on.
The unidenitified plant on page 2- Reply 27 image :unk090627_122046.JPG .......
could it be a dried out Potentilla?
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I thought that too... possibly a stressed Potentilla norvegiva.
Can't resist commenting... the sandstones and mudstones in that area are not "rock-like" in the usual sense. Due mostly to shallow burial, they are only poorly consolidated, and can be broken up quite easily, even crushed in the hand with little effort... As compared to what people think of as "rock", the roots don't really have much problem penetrating those types of sediments, without reliance on clay layers. (The concretions, glacial erratics, and petrified wood, are the "real" rocks in that area, in the conventional sense.)
Again, terrific photo essay!
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Again, terrific photo essay!
Cohan, I must second Lori's praise. :-*
And, Lori, I find your "geological insights" very helpful, thanks!
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thanks for comments and inputs, all :)
re: astragalus et al---if i manage to get into the right places at right times, i will let you all know about seeds..
simon--i'm glad you enjoy these dry places, i really love them, though for various practical reasons, i'm glad its not so dry where i live--actually we finally got nearly a full day's rain-off and on, with more forecast over the next few days: we are supposed to start getting in july the rain we didnt have in june!
i'm not sure about the details, but i'm guessing the town of drumheller doesnt have too many water problems, they presumably get water from the red deer river, which starts out in the mountains up here, and drains this relatively wetter area, so should be reasonably full most of the time...
on the 'potentilla' i was thinking possibly along those lines also, though we have a few potentillas around, old faves, and i didnt really think of it while i was taking the pic; the final word though, is that it was really snapped in a hurry and i didnt pay close enough attention or take detailed enough photos to really say much...lol...
of course lori is right on the 'rocks' the hard stuff is various bits and pieces left by glaciers in the softer sediments; what appears in a given spot is a matter of random chance as to what layers happen to have been eroded out by water and weather--so you could find a spot where the surface is all red, because a layer with red (sandstone? mudstone?) has been exposed, and its all crumbled and washed around, another area might be covered with sand or gravel, etc...
in practical terms for the plants, i think degree of slope is as important as soil make-up, or even more so--even the clays will simply shed water that runs over the surface, i suspect that only slower prolonged rains, and snow will have a chance to penetrate much into the steeper areas; this is why as you get to the flats between the hills, there is the densest vegetation, and in the areas where water pools or runs, even more..
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I'll second that Paul. Though you do have me glad that you are in Australia! Only in that there were occasionally Astragalus/ Oxytropis for sale at members stalls at various AGS shows I have been too- I think if you'd been there we would have been elbowing each other out of the way!
Simon,
You'd better believe it. Might even have been more than elbows involved. (Grumble, Grumble, Grumble!)
;D ;D :P
Can be quite frustrating viewing these things from afar. It's one of the reasons I rarely visit the shows section down at the bottom of the main page..... just too painful I think to see those things so perfectly grown and so unavailable here! :o Sometimes I succumb and visit, but very rarely. ::)
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Cohan, I know the trip is over before I had a chance to comment but the journey is great through your pacey travelogue and so much to see in an apparently barren landscape - I love the huge skies and rocky mountain shapes with dry grass blowing and the yellow cactus flowers are amazing. Last year I ate the fruit for the first time in Italy, freshly picked for breakfast - sensational and not a prickly one either ;D
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Cohan, I know the trip is over before I had a chance to comment but the journey is great through your pacey travelogue and so much to see in an apparently barren landscape - I love the huge skies and rocky mountain shapes with dry grass blowing and the yellow cactus flowers are amazing. Last year I ate the fruit for the first time in Italy, freshly picked for breakfast - sensational and not a prickly one either ;D
thanks, robin, glad you enjoyed :) i really like it down there, too--especially when i am walking among the hills and valleys with no one around, sun shining down...
our native cacti have edible fruits as well, though not nearly as large as the one you would have had in italy..
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I'll second that Paul. Though you do have me glad that you are in Australia! Only in that there were occasionally Astragalus/ Oxytropis for sale at members stalls at various AGS shows I have been too- I think if you'd been there we would have been elbowing each other out of the way!
Simon,
You'd better believe it. Might even have been more than elbows involved. (Grumble, Grumble, Grumble!)
;D ;D :P
Can be quite frustrating viewing these things from afar. It's one of the reasons I rarely visit the shows section down at the bottom of the main page..... just too painful I think to see those things so perfectly grown and so unavailable here! :o Sometimes I succumb and visit, but very rarely. ::)
Yes, I understand what you mean. I miss the shows and seeing the plants in person to marvel at the things people are growing to near perfection. The Botanic Gardens here don't have alpine gardens, and I don't know of anyone else with an 'Alpineum'- but I get to compare notes with nature and the trips people take me on here give me lots of ideas too. :)
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Simon, on Sunday I went to a miniature Alpine Botanical Garden in Vaud that might interest you under Travel/Places to Visit
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Thanks ;)