Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: one flower

Usually, when I'm lucky enough to see these small, native wildflowers, they are growing deep in the forest, where the light is awful. I seem to remember that I only found two of these flowers that day at Maclean Pond, Kananaskis (off Elbow Falls Trail, Highway 66), and this one was right on the edge of the forest. I always use a tiny twig or leaf when I want to tilt a flower (unless it's a noxious weed), as oil (?) from the fingers can result in a flower head later being eaten by an animal (?). It is especially important not to touch a rare/less common plant for that reason. This plant, also known as Woodnymph, grows in moist wooded areas, June-July. Each plant has a solitary, fragrant flower that hangs its head. An edible plant, with a high vitamin C content.

Makes me think of burning hot embers of a fire - and that thought is much needed today : ) Was out all morning, walking along the banks of the Bow River, with a strong, bitterly cold wind blowing. No chances for photos today, same as yesterday, so thank goodness for archives (this one is recent), LOL.

It was a real treat yesterday to have the chance to go on the Ptarmigan Cirque Trail in Kananaskis, Rocky Mountains! The trail is quite steep, leading up to alpine meadows and amazing views over deep valleys, scree slopes, alpine meadows, and jagged, barren mountain peaks. We see different plants up here, of course; ones that we don't get in the city. The lovely yellow Glacier Lily, seen above, is just one of them. Today, I am letting my body recover before setting out on a day of botanizing tomorrow, returning to a lovely property near Millarville, south west of the city. We are so lucky being allowed to go back again, to record more of the plants, birds, insects, animals and fungi, etc..

Still photographing Tulips, LOL! I seem to see purple ones less frequently than the red, yellow and orange ones. Thought my fridge would make a change of background from all the black backgrounds I use.

A very pretty peach coloured Rose bought from Safeway. LOL, having a conscience can be an expensive thing - I could never take "undercover" shots in stores : )

"Imperfect" petals, but glorious colour! One of my Safeway flowers from late last year. I would never try taking a photo in store, so every once in a while I have to buy a small bunch of flowers : ) Desperately need some bright and beautiful flowers to photograph, as I am beginning to feel rather uninspired. Have been feeling really under the weather the last week and haven't been out anywhere for a walk for days - and the sun is shining this afternoon and the temperature has warmed up. Roll on next week!

A much-needed pick-me-up today, as it has been very cold, gloomy and snowing all morning. I even chickened out of a three-hour walk this morning, which is unusual for me. Did call in at a local park a bit later in the hope of getting a few Chickadee shots, but I suspect they will all be too noisy (i.e. from low light, not from little chirping voices) and will end up being deleted. The Chickadees were noisier than ever and landed on my head and shoulder, hoping for a tiny snack on such a cold, nasty day.

Another visit to my archives resulted in finding this colourful image. I always love photographing these graceful flowers, and I was lucky with the light on this particular day. I know it's partly the location of Reader Rock Garden, on a hillside, but it seems that almost every single time I call in at this place, it's very windy - never a good thing when trying to take photos of flowers, especially ones that grow on a long, thin stem : ) Taken on 7 July 2010. "The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle (aquila), because the shape of the flower petals, which are said to resemble an eagle's claw. The common name "columbine" comes from the Latin for "dove", due to the resemblance of the inverted flower to five doves clustered together." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquilegia

Strange kind of lighting, but this sunflower growing in a friend's garden caught my eye. Some busy little spider must have had a fun time travelling from one spiky bract to the next : ) Posting early today, as I have a routine dental appointment that cuts right into my day. Afterwards, though, I have an amazing blue and white fungus to go in search of in a local park. 99.9999% unlikely that I will be able to find it, but it's worth a try : ) Also, it will keep me off my computer, which is a good thing, as I have two very painful arms/shoulders. Have a great, SAFE long weekend, everybody!

This was a new plant for me, seen growing from the rocky wall in a small canyon, southwest of the city. We hiked up and down rolling hills to Loree Canyon, Nanton. The flowers are 15-20 mm across, 5 petals, 5 sepals. Grows June-July on moist banks in alpine to montane forests. "Nodding Saxifrage produces small, reddish purple bulblets in the axils of the upper leaves. These bulblets, a form of vegetative reproduction, are shed and grow into new plants." From "Plants of Alberta" by France Royer and Richard Dickinson.

This small flower was actually photographed in someone's garden a couple of days ago and the background just happened to come out black : )

Bird'sfoot Trefoil is one of my favourite wildflowers. Love the way the small, brilliant yellow flowers form a circle. It is a non-native plant and unfortunately, has become invasive. This particular plant was growing at Strathcona Ravines Park. I wish you all could have seen me today, LOL. It was a long, almost 12-hour day, exploring two different areas north west of the city, way out past Cochrane. Eight of us searched for plants, fungi, insects, birds - anything beautiful and of interest. The first place was a wonderful BOG! When I was there a year ago, I was so thrilled at seeing new plants, including Bog Bean, that I completely forgot to walk over and see and photograph the carnivorous plant, Sundew! So, finally, a year later, I got my chance. In order to get to these plants and various others, we had to kneel and half lie in bog water that was several inches deep, gradually sinking deeper and deeper. It was SO much fun and so rewarding! The second place was the Mountainview Sports and Handicapped Centre, set amongst wonderful forest. Now I need to download all my photos, recharge my battery and get ready for a lovely day out with a friend tomorrow, up in Banff, Rocky Mountains. Am I lucky, or what?? Of course, the downside of all these things is that I'm getting hardly any time for Flickr!

I thought these Cosmos flowers at the Cascade Gardens in Banff were so pretty : ) Yesterday, I spent the day in Banff with a friend, following part of the Fen Trail through the forest and walking the short distance to Vermillion Lakes. In the afternoon, we visited the Cascade Gardens at the far end of Banff's main street. I don't usually get a chance to go to Banff, in the Rocky Mountains, so this was a wonderful treat, thanks to my friend! The total driving distance from Calgary to Banff is 126 kms. A road trip from Calgary to Banff takes about 1 hour 37 mins. Weather was perfect - not too warm, and sunny. Just looked at this photo again, and wonder if perhaps I should brighten it a little. The angle of sunlight in my computer room is making it a bit hard to tell how dark or bright my photos are.

An unusual (to me, at least) Tulip in a friend's garden. I love the pointed tips of the petals and the pink "brushstroke" pattern.

Who can resist the cheery face of a little Pansy? This one was growing at the Reader Rock Garden late August last year. I was out briefly at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary around lunch time and then went on a walk at Confluence Park again all afternoon. Now I'm struggling to keep awake : )

I took this photo a long time ago, using my old Olympus C750 UZ. The metal door to the battery compartment got bent when I dropped the camera. Consequently, I used to have a thick, purple elastic band wrapped around my camera in an attempt to keep it partly closed. As you can imagine, it hardly looked "professional" and I'm sure many people got a good chuckle over it. However, it took some good photos : ) Sometimes, the door would spring open and then the date was not recorded on the photo. I also had to reset everything in the camera, which was very frustrating. So, I can't remember when or where I took this photo and worst of all, I can't remember what plant it is. Doug, or anyone else, if you happen to see this, would you be able to let me know the ID? Purple Prairie-clover? Might have been a garden plant. Thanks! Later: have managed to track down this photo on my external hard drive. It is Purple Prairie-clover, seen at Votier's Flats, Fish Creek Park on 7th August 2007. Thanks, George - you were right!

Another shot of one of the blue and white flowers I bought from Safeway a few days ago. I believe the colour is achieved by standing the flowers in coloured water. Each flower soaks up a different amount of the dye, so some flowers are white with just a touch of blue, while others are more like this one.

These blue and white flowers have lasted quite a few days already and have given me a few happy photo opportunities.