They can't see me
Old cabin on Gottlob Schmidt's (Schmitty's) land
Splash of colour on a rainy day
Memorial Rose for Carl Handfield
Loved by Monarch butterflies
Pine Siskin at Jackie's
Lovage / Levisticum officinale
A garden in the forest
The colours of fall
Juvenile White-throated Sparrow / Zonotrichia albi…
Autumn berries
Glorious colours of fall
Tenderness
Brightness on a cloudy day
Owl sculpture at Silver Springs Botanical Gardens
Larch in fall colour
As fall colours come to an end
Passion Flowers
Astilbe
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Sunflower going to seed
Purple Petunias
Always good for a splash of colour
Fall colours at Silver Springs Botanical Gardens
Bark colour after the rain
The Wall Garden - October is Breast Cancer Awarene…
Aging beauties
A big splash of colour
A splash of different colour
A colourful walk through the woods
The second owl
Snake's head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris
Simplicity
Lest we forget
That sinking feeling
Ornamental Cabbage or Ornamental Kale?
Clematis after the rain
Half Moon Garden, Silver Springs
Raindrops
Narcissus
Colour for a snowy day
Oak leaf and insect gall
Showy Milkweed with bee
Seedpod of Datura sp.?
A bright splash of colour
Fall colour
The centre of a labyrinth
Long gone, but memories remain
Like floral flames for a deep-freeze day
A welcome splash of red
Beginning to burst
The droplet
Beauty in the final stage
Remembering summer colours
A splash of colour on a snowy day
Colour for winter
Downy Woodpecker and bokeh
A splash of fall colour
Cheery sunflower
Unidentified fruit
Summer colour
Colour from Ornamental Cabbages
Typically Western
Ladybug larva on Showy Milkweed
Showy Milkweed / Asclepias speciosa
Egyptian Walking Onion
Yesterday's summer hail
Iris at Olds College Botanical Gardens and Wetland…
Ornamental Spurge / Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion…
Red-edged petals
Needed a change of colour
Hollyhock buds
Farm seed elevator, Ellis Bird Farm, Alberta
Bee nesting box
A colourful little corner
The purity of white
Flowers of spring
Is this a Pink?
Snake's head fritillary / Fritillaria meleagris
Red Baneberry
Much-needed colour
The joy of spring
Periwinkle / Vinca minor
Colour
Snake's Head Fritillary / Fritillaria meleagris
Hepatica
After the rain
One of my favourite spring garden flowers
Hellebore beauty
Elephant Ears / Bergenia cordifolia
Beauty of spring
Art of nature
Hoverfly on European Pasque Flower
Physoclaina orientalis
Physoclaina orientalis
Candy-striped Tulip
Pink Hellebore
Delicate Iris
Siberian Squill
Home tweet home
Hanging on to the old
Hepatica
Giant Scabius with purple bokeh
Spider on Strawflower
Beauty lasts
Pink Sundae / Salvia viridis
Floral beauty
Popular with the Aphids
From days gone by
Siberian Squill
A little corner of Reader Rock Garden
Datura flower?
Just a splash of colour
Another day closer
Springtime colour
Poppy art
Delicate colours of summer
Sweet little garden ornament
Dianthus sp.
Embracing the sun
Beware those icy fingers
European Pasque Flower / Pulsatilla vulgaris
Vibrant
Busy little bee
Persian Cornflower / Centaurea dealbata?
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115 visits
Bold and beautiful
This was such an eye-catching plant. I know next to nothing about garden flowers and haven't yet searched on Google.
Almost three weeks ago, on 30 June 2016, I just made it in time for a botany visit to our main naturalist leader's home and garden. He and his wife have an amazing double-lot garden, full of so many kinds of flowers, including a good variety of native plants. One of my favourites is Showy Milkweed - love the cluster of individual flowers and buds growing on a rounded head. These plants have spread over a lot of the front garden. All they need now is for Monarch butterflies to fly a bit further north than they usually do and discover this little bit of butterfly heaven. In 2012, though, it was very unusual, as people were seeing a few of these amazing butterflies in Alberta, including in Calgary. I even got to see and photograph a couple of Monarch caterpillars in this garden in July 2012, for the very first and last time. Milkweed does not normally grow in Calgary, though we have seen a plant or two growing in the wild at one location in the city.
"Monarchs only use milkweed for their eggs - no other plant will do. There is a good reason for this. Milkweed is poisonous and the caterpillars absorb the poison into their bodies, thus making them immune to predators." From edmontonnaturalizationgroup. The National Geographic has an amazing, fascinating video of the life story of these spectacular butterflies - couldn't find a link to it, unfortunately.
edmontonnaturalizationgroup.org/blog/2012/08/13/wildflowe...
""Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains, as is typical for plant pollen. The flower petals are smooth and rigid, and the feet of visiting insects (predominantly large wasps, such as spider wasps, which visit the plants for nectar) slip into notches in the flowers, where the sticky bases of the pollinia attach to the feet, pulling the pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Bees, including honey bees only gather nectar from milkweed flowers, and are generally not effective pollinators despite the frequency of visitation.
Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in pods. These seed pods contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments." From Wikipedia.
Our leader also has a large vegetable garden. One thing that always fascinates me is the Egyptian Walking Onion. Each one seems to take on its own artistic shape and I love to photograph these - both fascinating and quite beautiful.
In the afternoon of this day, we experienced a huge rain and hail storm. Fortunately, it cleared up in time to go on Don Stiles' annual evening Bluebird route trip. I always look forward to going with Don on his nest box route, checking on a few of the boxes and finding either Bluebird or Tree Swallow eggs or babies. Don records all the information about numbers and dates, and also demonstrates how he carefully bands the young birds. Thanks, as always, Don, for an enjoyable evening outing and thank you for all the many, many years (must be somewhere around 35?) you have spent helping to preserve our beautiful Bluebirds. We all enjoyed seeing the various other bird species during the evening, too.
Almost three weeks ago, on 30 June 2016, I just made it in time for a botany visit to our main naturalist leader's home and garden. He and his wife have an amazing double-lot garden, full of so many kinds of flowers, including a good variety of native plants. One of my favourites is Showy Milkweed - love the cluster of individual flowers and buds growing on a rounded head. These plants have spread over a lot of the front garden. All they need now is for Monarch butterflies to fly a bit further north than they usually do and discover this little bit of butterfly heaven. In 2012, though, it was very unusual, as people were seeing a few of these amazing butterflies in Alberta, including in Calgary. I even got to see and photograph a couple of Monarch caterpillars in this garden in July 2012, for the very first and last time. Milkweed does not normally grow in Calgary, though we have seen a plant or two growing in the wild at one location in the city.
"Monarchs only use milkweed for their eggs - no other plant will do. There is a good reason for this. Milkweed is poisonous and the caterpillars absorb the poison into their bodies, thus making them immune to predators." From edmontonnaturalizationgroup. The National Geographic has an amazing, fascinating video of the life story of these spectacular butterflies - couldn't find a link to it, unfortunately.
edmontonnaturalizationgroup.org/blog/2012/08/13/wildflowe...
""Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains, as is typical for plant pollen. The flower petals are smooth and rigid, and the feet of visiting insects (predominantly large wasps, such as spider wasps, which visit the plants for nectar) slip into notches in the flowers, where the sticky bases of the pollinia attach to the feet, pulling the pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Bees, including honey bees only gather nectar from milkweed flowers, and are generally not effective pollinators despite the frequency of visitation.
Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in pods. These seed pods contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments." From Wikipedia.
Our leader also has a large vegetable garden. One thing that always fascinates me is the Egyptian Walking Onion. Each one seems to take on its own artistic shape and I love to photograph these - both fascinating and quite beautiful.
In the afternoon of this day, we experienced a huge rain and hail storm. Fortunately, it cleared up in time to go on Don Stiles' annual evening Bluebird route trip. I always look forward to going with Don on his nest box route, checking on a few of the boxes and finding either Bluebird or Tree Swallow eggs or babies. Don records all the information about numbers and dates, and also demonstrates how he carefully bands the young birds. Thanks, as always, Don, for an enjoyable evening outing and thank you for all the many, many years (must be somewhere around 35?) you have spent helping to preserve our beautiful Bluebirds. We all enjoyed seeing the various other bird species during the evening, too.
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