Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: bell-shaped

Monday, 14 July 2014, was another hot day, and my computer room became unbearably uncomfortable. That meant only one thing - I would have to drive around in my car for some air-conditioning. Spent about four hours cruising the backroads SW of the city, not seeing a whole lot. Went as far as Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, with the intention of doing just a very short walk into the forest. Didn't get that far, though, as there were things to photograph around the edge of the tiny parking lot and just part way along the path that leads to the two short boardwalks. The first thing I saw and heard was a Tennessee Warbler and when I reached it, discovered that there were now several young ones, too. Talk about friendly little birds - not sure that they didn't think I was going to feed them. Interesting to see birds that acted rather like the Black-capped Chickadees - just as fast-moving, too, making it difficult to get even a half-decent photo. The next thing that welcomed me to the park was a beautiful Western Wood Lily. They always almost glow amongst all the greenery. A few other plants that I photographed included Sticky Purple Geranium and Richardson's Geranium, Purple Avens, One-flowered WIntergreen, One-sided Wintergreen, Pink Pyrola, Creamy Peavine, Round-leaved Orchid and this pretty little Twinflower (macro shot). "Linnaea borealis, commonly known as Twinflower (sometimes written twin flower) is a woodland subshrub, treated either in the family Caprifoliaceae, or sometimes in its own family Linnaeaceae." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnaea On the way home from Brown-Lowery, I saw a couple of fun things. One was a Wilson's Snipe on a wooden post to which was attached a Bluebird/Tree Swallow nesting box. I've never seen one by a nesting box before. The other thing I saw was a Ruffed Grouse female walking along the side of the main road. Didn't realize what it was until I had driven past it. Did a quick U-turn and, rounding a bend, saw not just the adult standing on the road, but also a young one. I pulled over to the edge of the road and very slowly walked a little closer - then I noticed about four other youngsters in the grass. Mom walked very slowly to the middle of the road and one brave little soul took a few very hesitant steps towards her. It wasn't quite sure that it liked being that far out in the open, so started to return to its siblings. This was repeated a few times, with me becoming more anxious that a car was bound to come racing down the road at any minute. Another of the babies tried to take a few brave steps - which is when a vehicle appeared. With Mom and two of her babies on the road, where they'd been for maybe 10 minutes, I just had to signal to the driver, who slowed down, waited a moment, and then got out of her car and loudly clapped her hands. Off they all flew, into the long grass. I suspect she was a country girl - and not a photographer, lol! If only she had scared them off to the side of the road that they had been trying to get to! And so ended my fun experience ..... and I returned to my house, that felt like walking into an oven.

Sometimes, there is an uninspiring, poor quality photo that you want or need to add to a Set and the only way to get it in there is to upload it. This is one such image, lol. The flowers of the Asparagus plant are very tiny, and I'm not sure if they open any further than this or not. This macro shot was taken on 27 July 2011, at the Erlton/Roxborough Natural Area. No "need" (not that there ever is!) to comment. "The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, 4.5–6.5 mm (0.18–0.26 in) long, with six tepals partially fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of two or three in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. The fruit is a small red berry 6–10 mm diameter, which is poisonous to humans." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus

I tilted this plant back a little, using a small twig, so that I could see the small flowers from underneath, which one normally never sees. Quite a pretty sight : ) Macro photo taken on 10 July 2012 at Maclean Pond, off Elbow Falls Trail, Kanananaskis. By the way, just in case you didn't know, you should never touch a wildflower, especially a rare species, with your hands. You can leave behind certain oils that attract wildlife, which then eats the plant. A common plant in Alberta. It should never be transplanted, because its roots require a specific fungus. "There are 6 to 15 flowers on a stem, in long loose terminal cluster; usually nodding, 8 - 12 mm across, pale pink to purplish red, bell- or cup-shaped; style long, curved, bends downwards; appearing mid-summer." www.borealforest.org/herbs/herb31.htm

Not sure if I'd ever seen this plant before, but the little pink, bell-shaped flowers look so delicate and pretty. Photographed along the Sarrail Falls trail, along the edge of Upper Kananaskis Lake, in the mountains, when a small group of us went to botanize the area on 8 July 2012. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menziesia_ferruginea

Photographed this tiny pink "bell" on Plateau Mountain, on July 17th.

Photgraphed at Reader Rock Garden on August 11th. Can't you just imagine the blue sky and the warm sunshine beating down on your shoulders? It's difficult, isn't it, ha?

Just wanted to thank all of you for your wonderfully kind comments and words of support, especially during the last five weeks. It really has been an exceedingly hard time for me, unexpectedly losing my brother (from Ischaemic Heart Disease) in England, helping to plan the funeral, and dealing with his house and belongings. I would not have been able to do this without my amazing friends in England who have done and are still doing SO much, but I do want you to know how much difference the support of my Flickr friends/Contacts has made during this difficult time. John's funeral was just a few hours ago and I stayed up all night, worried that I might sleep through my alarm that I'd set for 4:30 a.m. : ) I knew the order of the songs/music and I had even been sent all the words that were going to be said through the Service, so at 4:30 a.m. this morning, I sat at my computer and played the music in turn and read the words, having my own little service at the same time as all John's friends and colleagues. Apparently, the morning went very well, just as I knew it would in the capable hands of my friends. Actually, thanks to friend, Tony, I have even just seen the first bit of video - already! Thanks so much, Tony! You're the best. Now, there is the legal stuff to see to, and going through the rest of my brother's belongings (via photos sent in e-mails) and then the house can be put up for sale. Lots of Thank You cards and notes to be written, too : ) Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support, and bearing with me during these few weeks!!! Oh, and after more than a day of e-mail problems yesterday, it turned out that I had a corrupted file in there, which is what the Shaw technician suspected. Looked like I was going to have to back-up all 2,470 Inbox e-mails (ha!) , then delete Inbox and start from scratch, but thank goodness I happened to delete the culprit - whichever e-mail it was - and all seems OK now. Phew! This year, I have so many thousands of photos to back up and I definitely need to save all these very important e-mails, too. It really needs to be a year in which I make myself see to an awful lot of things, lol!

Feels good to me to see a colour that is different from many of the photos I post in the summer - a pretty blue. These little, wild Harebells were growing at the Sundre Natural Area about 10 days ago. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula_rotundifolia

Hey, Dorothy, this is for you! This was a most beautiful sight to see, wasn't it, with the sun shining though the trees on to just this one tiny Twinflower (sometimes written as Twin Flower), Linnaea borealis? Seen on 27th July on a walk in Bragg Creek Provincial Park, west of the city. These had quite a deep shade of pink on them - usually, they are a much paler pink. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnaea

This introduced, non-native plant is called Creeping Bellflower, and this particular plant was growing at Paskapoo Slopes (in the city). "Most of the ornamentals plants we enjoy growing in our gardens are not native to North America or are cultivars of of non-natives. Many of the traits we admire in some ornamentals - vigorous, very hardy, self-sows, naturalizes - are the very same characteristics of an invasive plant. Very few introduced plants become invasive - only about 10% - but those that do, harm our natural areas, reduce forage for wildlife & livestock, and cost agricultural producers & land managers money every year for control efforts. Some of these plants came with European settlers as beloved reminders of home. Others were contaminants of crop seed. And as long as humans have been traveling between the continents, plants have gone with them. Some introductions are intended for agriculture, some for medicinal reasons, and many for ornamental purposes.... Its creeping root system and resistance to some herbicides makes Creeping Bellflower extremely difficult to eradicate." From www.invasiveplants.ab.ca/InvasiveOrnamentals .

After driving for almost an hour yesterday, west of the city, I found so few wildflowers in bloom and just a scattering of shrivelled up mushrooms. Everywhere is SO dry - we need rain desperately. This is about the most exciting photo I took yesterday, other than a butterfly and a few scenic shots, LOL. "Just" a regular Harebell, but the sunlight really made the colour pop.

These dainty, little, native wildflowers belonging to the Lily family grow in moist deciduous and mixedwood forests. The bell-shaped flowers are greenish yellow and 1-2 cm long. These plants produce velvety, deep red berries.