Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: April-June

We are all waiting with baited breath for the first Prairie Crocus (also called Pasque-flower) to bloom!!! Such gorgeous, hairy plants! Legend says that the Great Spirit gave this delicate plant a fur coat to keep it warm until spring nights turn warmer. This is a photo taken on 5 May 2006 at Shannon Terrace, Fish Creek Park. Last spring, I photographed my first one on 26 March, but everything will be delayed this year because of our long, hard winter.

I haven't heard whether anyone has seen a first Prairie Crocus in bloom yet, this spring. They can be seen as early as mid-March, but more often closer to the end of March, I believe. This image was taken on 26 April 2011, probably at Sandy Beach, Calgary.

I'm always so happy when I see one of these wildflowers and thought the bokeh in this image was a little different. This plant was growing at the edge of a wet area and the water created the bokeh. We don't find a huge number of Sweet Coltsfoot plants, but they do occur in various parks/natural areas of the city. This particular plant was growing in Fish Creek Park, at Bebo Grove. This native wildflower grows in moist woods and swamps, April-June.

Every photo that I take of Palmate-leaved Coltsfoot seems to come out differently, so here is another one. I like the tiny star shapes at the centre of each small flower in the cluster. The blue colour in the background was from the small creek where this plant was growing at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park. This native plant grows in moist woods and swamps from April-June.

Well, the poor Prairie Crocuses looked rather battered and droopy this morning, after the awful snow storm we had two days ago! They were all closed up, with their little fur coats - solar heating, Crocus style! "This furry little perennial is actually not a crocus, which is in the Lily family; it's really an anemone, in the Buttercup family."

I must add straight away that, no, I wasn't lying flat on my stomach or back to get this photo and, no, I didn't pick the flower, LOL!! When I was on a walk with friends on Friday morning, at Sandy Beach, one of us noticed that this Prairie Crocus flower had been broken off, probably by foot or by dog. Of course, I didn't want to see it wasted, so I made sure I took a few photos of it : ) Oh, by the way, it's SNOWING again this evening!

Another clump of very deep purple Prairie Crocuses sen at 12 Mile Coulee. Normally, these wildflowers are pale purple/bluish/whitish, but we have now seen a couple of clusters in this much darker shade. They were so pretty. They have no petals - the purple sepals just look like petals.

Not the best of photos - much too blurry for my liking - but it's a bit different from the other, more "usual" photos of Prairie Crocuses that I took yesterday. It was a very overcast afternoon and quite windy - not good for photographing thousands of tiny, gold hairs, LOL. However, I had just been to get my Taxes done and this location was nearby, so I wanted to at least try and find a few of these wildflowers. So great to have them finally in bloom! Oh, and by the way, I placed something dark behind the flower head to make it show up against all the tangle of dried grass in the background. I'll post one of those "messy" photos another day : )

LOL, "everyone" takes photos exactly like this one! This is just a typical shot of a typical cluster of these unique flowers. Everyone is thrilled when the first ones push up through the dried grasses or sometimes even through the remaining snow of winter. They tend to be the first flowers to bloom each spring. They are such furry little flowers and a delight of mauve and yellow. Happy spring! A HOT day today - I think it was supposed to get up to around 20C and up to 21C tomorrow. Caught me totally unprepared : )