Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: pink and white

Yesterday was a fungi day (well, morning), but we came across a few wildflowers, too, including this Alsike Clover, which is a hybrid between Red Clover and White Clover. I always think that the result is an attractive, small flower. At least, I have always been told that it is a hybrid, but I have just this minute read the following on Wikipedia. "Despite its scientific name, alsike clover is not of hybrid origin. The plant gets its common name from the town of Alsike in Sweden from which Linnaeus first described it. He thought it was a cross between white clover (T. repens) and red clover (T. pratense), but in this he was mistaken and it is a separate species." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifolium_hybridum It was a late start to my day this morning. Yesterday, 6 August 2016, was a physically and mentally exhausting day, and I'm still feeling the effects. A great day, too, thanks to friend, Sandy! She very kindly picked me up around 8:15 am and we drove SW of the city and SW of Millarville to Rod Handfield's acreage. For a number of years, this has been one of my favourite places to explore, as his forest tends to be full of all sorts of beautiful finds. It is one of the two best places that I know for mushrooms, the other being Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. This year has turned out to be great for fungi, thanks to all the endless, torrential rain we have been getting the last few weeks, apart from the scattering of sunny days. This year has so far had such weird weather - a very mild, dry winter, a spring that was as dry and hot as a summer, and now a wet, thundery summer. We met a group of other interested people, most of whom we didn't know, and we searched the land for fungi. Right at the start, I was telling Sandy that on the last visit there, maybe four years ago, we had seen a beautiful Amanita muscaria mushroom growing just a few feet from the start of the walk. Sure enough, there were several growing in exactly the same spot, which was so exciting. Later in the walk, we saw two other patches of absolute beauties of this poisonous species. The rain was spitting during our walk, and the forest was so dark, but amazingly, some of my photos came out well enough. Thanks so much, Karel, for organizing and leading this trip and for sharing your knowledge with us! Sandy and I left the group around lunchtime, to go looking at vehicles at one of the dealerships. In the last year and a half, I have had to put far too much money into repairs for my poor old 17+ year old car and finally, I knew that I had no choice but to replace it. The muffler and a few other things died several days ago and instead of spending a fortune on repair, I decided I would rather put that money towards a new vehicle. I had been thinking about replacing it the last few years, but now, enough is enough! Just hoping that my car lasts long enough for the drive to the dealership. The noise it makes is just awful, from the faulty muffler and from a dreadful rattling noise, so it will be a most embarrassing ride, lol. I'm down to deciding between two models and will have to make up my mind today. All being well, within the coming week, I will once again have a set of wheels, which will feel wonderful. Thanks so much, Sandy, for making it possible for me to go on the great morning at Rod's place and then, for giving up your whole afternoon, helping me look at cars and for also test-driving both. Appreciated beyond words! You are making this whole ordeal of replacing my car so much less traumatizing than it would have otherwise been!!

This photo was taken at the Reader Rock Garden on 24 June 2015, when I called in after a volunteer shift. These early spring flowers are so pretty and I'm always glad when they are still in bloom when I visit the Garden. Unfortunately, we don't get these growing in the wild in Alberta. "The Showy Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae), also known as the Pink-and-white Lady's-slipper or the Queen's Lady's-slipper, is a rare terrestrial temperate lady's-slipper orchid native to northern North America. Despite producing a large amount of seeds per seed pod, it reproduces largely by vegetative reproduction, and remains restricted to the North East region of the United States and south east regions of Canada. Although never common, this rare plant has vanished from much of its historical range due to habitat loss. It has been a subject of horticultural interest for many years with Charles Darwin who like many, were unsuccessful in cultivating the plant. The plant became the state flower of Minnesota in 1902 and was protected by state law in 1925. It is illegal to pick or uproot a Showy Lady's-slipper flower in Minnesota. Although this plant was chosen as the provincial flower for Prince Edward Island in 1947, it is so rare on the island that another Lady's-slipper, C. acaule (moccasin flower or pink lady slipper), has replaced it as the province's floral emblem." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypripedium_reginae

"Pink and Cream clusters of flowers sit atop a slender stalk and remind one of the pads of a cats paw, hence its name. It makes a great ground cover with a mat forming habit and silvery green wooly foliage that retains its color and form year round." From wildaboutwildflowers.ca www.wildaboutflowers.ca/plant_detail.php?Rosy-Pussytoes-12 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antennaria_rosea I was so lucky to be invited to join friends Sandy and Heide on a three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park, from 19-21 (inclusive) June 2015. We met up with other members of the Alberta Native Plant Council for their annual Botany Alberta weekend. Most people who attended stayed at the Crooked Creek Campground, a 5.6 km drive east of the Waterton Park Gate on Highway 5, but my friends and I stayed at the Crandell Mountain Lodge on the edge of Waterton town. The ANPC people had a list of species that they hoped to find, and they were very successful. Our stay down south overlapped the annual Waterton Wildflower Festival, but we came across very few people on our various drives and hikes. Needless to say, I was extremely fortunate to spend three days with people who are very knowledgeable about plants and many other things. This meant that I got to see many wildflower species, including several that were new to me, such as the gorgeous Mariposa Lily. It was one of the flowers that was on my mental Wish List - and there were hundreds of them to be seen! I had also never seen the spectacular Bear Grass and I was so thrilled that there were still several plants in bloom. Absolutely made my day! Our two main hikes of the weekend were the Bertha Lake Trail as far as the Bertha Falls (on 20 June), and the Crandell Lake Trail (on 21 June). The photo above was taken on our hike to and at Crandell Lake. Makes me smile when a described "short, easy hike" in a book or on the Internet turns into a full day of exploration along the trail, taking hours to reach the destination, though returning to the cars in a much shorter time. Our walks/hikes are very slow-paced with endless stops to look at/for plants and to take photos. This makes it possible for me to go along. The wind made photographing plants a real challenge, including the beautiful Mariposa Lilies in the meadow along the Hay Barn road. Though I took plenty of photos, I wasn't sure that I would end up with any that were sharp enough. Trying to catch a quick shot when a flower is blowing in and out of the viewfinder is not easy! Unfortunately, I'm no longer able to get down and take macro shots (my lens needs to be about 4" away from the subject), so my photos have to be telemacro. I've just been trying to find a list of plant species in Waterton Park, but have so far been out of luck. I do have the book, "Wildflowers of Waterton Park" by Jacinthe Lavoie and Ian Wilson, which has an Index of Plant names, but I was hoping to find a list that I could print out. It's going to take me ages to type descriptions for the various photos I'll slowly be posting, and I will no doubt keep adding new bits and pieces over time. There is just so much information I want to add, but my descriptions are already way too long. Also, my photos of quite a few of the plants will be posted for the use of ANPC members and are, unfortunately, really poor images. Need them added to my Waterton Lakes album, so please bear with me : ) Luckily, you don't even need to look at them.

Milkweed does not normally grow in Calgary, though we have seen a plant or two growing in the wild at either one or possibly two locations in the city. My photo was taken in the garden of friends on 27 July 2014. I love Showy Milkweed - the buds, the opened flowers and the seed pods. This macro shot shows how attractive the very small, individual flowers are - they grow in large clusters to form a flower head (previously posted photo in a comment box below). "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. Native Americans used fiber in the stems for rope, basketry, and nets. Some Native Americans believed the milky sap had medicinal qualities. However, most species of milkweed are toxic." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_speciosa

Photographed this beautiful Pink or Showy lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae) yesterday, 2 July 2014, when I called in at the Reader Rock Garden on my way home from a volunteer shift. Unfortunately, this beautiful orchid is not native to Alberta. "The Showy Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae), also known as the Pink-and-white Lady's-slipper or the Queen's Lady's-slipper, is a rare terrestrial temperate lady's-slipper orchid native to northern North America. Despite producing a large amount of seeds per seed pod, it reproduces largely by vegetative reproduction, and remains restricted to the North East region of the United States and south east regions of Canada. Although never common, this rare plant has vanished from much of its historical range due to habitat loss. It has been a subject of horticultural interest for many years with Charles Darwin who like many, were unsuccessful in cultivating the plant. The plant became the state flower of Minnesota in 1902 and was protected by state law in 1925. It is illegal to pick or uproot a Showy Lady's-slipper flower in Minnesota. Although this plant was chosen as the provincial flower for Prince Edward Island in 1947, it is so rare on the island that another Lady's-slipper, C. acaule (moccasin flower or pink lady slipper), has replaced it as the province's floral emblem." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypripedium_reginae The famous, annual Calgary Stampede begins tomorrow, with the Stampede Parade taking place in the morning. William Shatner (from Star Trek) is our Parade Marshall. No worries about the weather, as it's a beautiful, sunny day today and tomorrow is supposed to be good, too.

Not the sharpest image, but this bunch of beautiful Carnations withered and died before I got round to trying to get better shots, ha. Said I'd post something colourful, after posting the cold, snow-covered mountain peaks yesterday. It's still snowing, but just very lightly this morning. Looks like there are maybe 6-8" of snow on top of my fence - drifts will be much deeper, of course. It's -11C (12F) at the moment (windchill -19C/-2F), with a SNOWFALL WARNING of a further 5-15 cm of snow. Tomorrow, Saturday, a forecast temperature of -16C (3F) tomorrow morning. Next week should be closer to 0C, which will feel really good.

Photographed (macro) on July 10th on our hike on the Small Whaleback, about two and a half hours' drive south of Calgary. The whole flower cluster was maybe three-quarters of an inch across, at most.

This species of Lady's-slipper orchid does not grown wild here. This one was growing at Reader Rock Garden on July 6th. I'm hoping I have the correct ID for this beautiful flower.

I've just noticed that the description I typed yesterday didn't save : ) Anyway, this was the only Rose of its kind in a small bunch of mixed Roses that I bought along with my groceries the other week. I think this is my favourite kind of Rose, with each petal "painted" in a different pattern.