Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Scabius

After a volunteer shift on 23 July 2014, I wasn't too far away from the Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area, where I was finally going to go on a botany walk. Having been to this location several times before, I knew it was a short, easy, flat trail, and that I could go as far as I wanted and then turn back early, which is what I did. I'd missed pretty well all the botany and birding walks the previous few months, which was quite depressing. The main thing I wanted to see were the Nodding / Musk Thistles, as these are my favourite species of Thistle. They are called a "weed", but I love to see them. The sun was unfortunately in the wrong direction, so I was only able to get a handful of shots, but better than nothing. With a couple of hours to "kill" before the botany walk started, I spent them at the Reader Rock Garden, which was just a few minutes' drive away from the evening botany walk location. This is where I photographed this yellow Giant Scabius flower. I always like to see these Giant Scabius flowers - so crinkly and detailed.

This photo was taken on 29 July 2015, when I called in at the Reader Rock Garden after a volunteer shift. Summer is flying by and I wanted to take a whole batch of bright, colourful flower photos ready to post during the seven or eight cold "winter" months. It was so disappointing to find very little still in bloom! Many plants had already finished and had been cut down and a lot of the flowers that were left were past their prime. However, I did still manage to get some photos, including of this beautiful Giant Scabious - love these flowers. It had rained during the afternoon and some of the pathways were quite slippery. Also, the powerful sprinklers were turned on when I was still there and I was rather wet by the time I reached the exit! The things we photographers go through to get some of our photos, lol!

Well, the two main Christmas days are over with for another year, though I can still look forward to visits from both my daughters. Ha, wish I could say the same thing about winter, but there are still another few months to go. Thought I'd have a change from Christmas and snowy, winter photos today, and let my (and hopefully your) thoughts wander to warmer spring and summer months. This Scabious flower was photographed at the Reader Rock Garden on 14 August 2013.

A photo from my archives, taken on 10 August 2011 at the Reader Rock Garden. Hardly any new photos appearing on my Contacts Photos today. I don't know if it's because many people are out taking photos today and not on Flickr, or if there is a problem with photos simply not showing up when they should. Some things on Flickr are taking much too long - a problem that has been going on for the last few weeks. No use, I give up - having to wait so long every time I click on something.

Normally, in Calgary, a very rare Monarch butterfly might be spotted in the city - I'd only ever seen one, from far away. This summer has been different for some reason, with Monarchs travelling to Calgary and quite a bit further north in Alberta. The one in my photo is the fourth one I've seen this summer. Robin, a botany friend, and I had bumped into each other at the Zoo on July 24th and then gone our separate ways. I was busy photographing flowers in the zoo garden a bit later, when an excited Robin found me and let me know where there was a beautiful Monarch near by. It was enjoying the Scabius flowers. Thanks, Robin! www.monarch-butterfly.com/ I found this beautiful, time-lapse video (only four and a half minutes long) on YouTube. Worth looking at if you have a few moments to spare. "It shows the entire lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly from a tiny caterpillar hatching from an egg on a Milkweed leaf through metamorphosis to become a glorious adult butterfly. Filmed utilizing high powered microscopic cameras and time-lapse photography. Produced for the Chicago Nature Museum in Chicago, IL." youtu.be/7AUeM8MbaIk The link below is to an article by CBC News, about the surprise appearance of Monarch butterflies in Central Alberta this summer. www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/06/20/monarch-butte... If you have more free time, this is a longer video by NOVA, about the amazing 2,000-mile migration of Monarchs to a sanctuary in the highlands of Mexico. video.pbs.org/video/1063682334

A tall Yellow Scabius, growing at the Reader Rock Garden, August 11th. I wasn't too happy to find a new problem on my computer yesterday, when I went to put it on Standby. A message appeared, saying that "The service "Print Spooler" is preventing the machine from entering Standby. Try stopping this service and try again." Well, I certainly didn't have a clue what a Print Spooler was, or why this had suddenly happened, so off to Google to try and find out what to do! Eventually, I fixed it, hoping that nothing else goes wrong, especially until I have finished copying all my e-mails so that my infected Outlook Express Inbox can be "rebuilt"(?).

I always like to see Scabius flowers - so crinkly and detailed. This one was growing at the Reader Rock Garden recently.

Some kind of bee on a tall Scabius flower at the Reader Rock Garden.