Plants of Alberta 3

We saw this Giant Hyssop wildflower in a cluster of these plants in Weaselhead, the only location that it has been found in Calgary.

I've just uploaded about eight new photos so that I could make this mosaic of a few photos taken yesterday morning. We had an enjoyable walk all morning in an interesting area called Strathcona Park Ravine. Most people I go with don't take photos, so some of them like to receive a few photos of things they saw on a particular walk. I thought that an fd mosaic might tie up people's Inboxes less than if I sent individual images! 1. Fireweed , 2. Beauty in miniature , 3. Prickly Lettuce , 4. Black Henbane seedpods , 5. Coopers Hawk , 6. Larvae tunnels , 7. Rust on Saskatoon berries , 8. Black Henbane , 9. Dame's-rocket Created with fd's Flickr Toys .

This is one of my favourite wildflowers. Just love the colour and the toothed petal tips. I think I've only seen it in one location in the city other than several plants growing at the Reader Rock Garden. After a walk at Edworthy Park this morning, I decided to call in at Reader on the way home. The weather forecast for the long weekend is cold and wet, so I thought I would make the most of the sunshine today. Happy long weekend, everyone. Stay safe!

I finally took a new photo of the delicately curling petals of a Showy (?) Aster last week. I'm not sure you would even notice what was happening with the petals if you didn't know what to look for, as the curls on these wildflowers are only very small. I wonder if there is a purpose for this happening.

My photos of this wild aquatic plant are usually much more distant ones. However, these flowers were growing closer to the edge at Maclean Pond, off Elbow Falls Trail, Kananaskis. This plant belongs to the Crowfoot or Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is aquatic to semi-aquatic, growing in slow-moving water and ponds. The species name "aquatilis" means "growing in water".

This is a very pretty, wild Orchid, called Hooded Ladies'-tresses. The tiny flowers grow in a spiral and look like a braid, hence the common name of Ladies'-tresses. This generally uncommon, native wildflower grows in wet woods, wet meadows and bogs. This plant was growing fairly near the edge of the Elbow River in the Weaselhead natural area.

We found this Viburnum lantana shrub covered in berries, and growing wild in a natural area near the Max Bell Arena. The berries are such a beautiful colour and very shiny. "Has dense branching, masses of white flowers. Very attractive fruit that changes from scarlet red to black in August-September." Maybe I should have posted my photo that shows some berries that have already turned black.

The leaves of this plant turn a wonderful golden colour at this time of year and the striped seedpods look so pretty against the yellow. Took this photo southwest of the city, but it is a very common species within the city, too.

We saw this unusual wildflower at Confluence Park a couple of days ago. I had seen the leaves of a plant once before, but this was the very first time I had seen a flower. This wild Four-o’clock (Mirabilis nyctaginea) has five sepals, often joined at the base, that look like petals. Four o’clock is so named because of its habit of opening in the late afternoon. It is not actually the time of day that causes the flowers to open, but the drop in temperature.