Garden flowers 2

Not sure what these flowers are, but I was fascinated by the colour and the beautiful, curled petals. These are just two of several flowers in a cluster at the top of a very tall stem. This plant was growing at the Reader Rock Garden just over two weeks ago.

This pretty Scabious flower was blooming at the Reader Rock Garden on 29th July. Gosh, most of my photos have been very dark recently, mainly because most of them have been taken deep within various forests. Hope they haven't been too depressing, LOL! Posting earlier today in the hopes that the sun will still be shining by the time I get myself ready to go mushroom hunting. My body hasn't recovered yet from all the walking I did on Saturday, so I'm not sure how many times I'll be able to get down on my hands and knees to photograph tiny fungi growing on the forest floor, but I'll give it a try at least : )

Took this photo yesterday morning in a friend's garden before we drove over to Paskapoo Slopes for a few hours of walking. This garden is a sea of yellow at the moment, so I happily included some of it in my background. Struggling to keep my eyes open this evening after a full day of botanizing in Bragg Creek Provincial Park. This time, we went south to the north side of Bragg Creek and took the West Bragg Creek Road. After crossing the Elbow River, we turned left and followed the winding road until it ended in the parking lot of Kananaskis Country. Our walk was mainly in the forest, plus a little bit of bog. Lots of exercise and sunshine - and excitement at things we saw. Totally wears me out, and I wish I could just collapse into bed right now ; ) My alarm was set for 4:55 a.m (after maybe an hour's sleep!). and I got home around 6:15 p.m. Three of us called in at the hamlet of Bragg Creek on the way home, where we enjoyed hot chocolate/coffee.

Another vivid orange Lily at the Reader Rock Garden, taken at the end of July. Another long day of botanizing today! So enjoyable, and we found a few new fungi. The trail we took today at the west end of Bragg Creek Provincial Park (over the bridge, so north of the river) didn't have as great a variety of fungi species as the nearby trail that we botanized two days ago, but it was still good. I think it took the five of us around six hours to cover about three kilometres, LOL! And now I can barely stay awake!

I'm not sure of the proper, full name of this plant, but I think Centaurea is one of the names. I love the colour, and the patterns below the petals (bracts?). We saw this on a walk at Paskapoo Slopes in the city a few days ago. Part of the walk was down the hillside, through some kind of forested retreat, so there were garden plants near the top of the area, too. A lovely place to walk. Thanks, Doug, for the ID, Centauria macrocephala, 'Golden Globe' - much appreciated, as always!

Took this photo back on 24th June, at an amazing garden in Calgary. We had just visited a gentleman's cactus garden and then called in to wander around this nearby garden. I thought these Clematis flowers were so pretty.

Not sure what was behind this bright "Daisy" when I photographed it - maybe flowers of other colours. I took this photo right at the end of May and have kept putting off posting it. Just couldn't decide whether I liked it enough or not, LOL.

Taken at the end of July at the Reader Rock Garden. Poppies are one of my favourite garden flowers, and I love them in all their stages. A change from mushrooms, LOL. However, I did spend a bit of time in a local park today, looking for mushrooms. I saw a lot, but many were the same. In one little spot in the forest, I just had to stop and watch the birds. I couldn't believe it when I saw not only a family of Blue Jays, but also a Sharp-shinned Hawk (or a Cooper's) and at least two Pileated Woodpeckers and they all seemed to be chasing each other from tree to tree. Actually, the Pileated Woodpeckers kind of kept me company for a while, when I searched for mushrooms, but gave me no chance to get even one shot - same with the other birds. Oh, and I also heard a Great Horned Owl "hooting" nearby. The only thing to "spoil" it all was that I knew that I had to keep an eye on the time as I had to get my hair cut.

I think I am identifying this plant correctly - Maltese Cross. Photographed at the Reader Rock Garden. "Lychnis chalcedonica (Burning Love, Dusky Salmon, Flower of Bristol, Jerusalem Cross, Maltese Cross, Nonesuch), Silene chalcedonica, is a flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native from central and eastern European Russia east to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northwestern China." From Wikipedia.