Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Phlox hoodii

HAPPY SPRING, everyone! Here, today is heavily overcast and the forecast is for showers this afternoon and tomorrow, and a few snow flurries for Sunday. The temperature is 0C (windchill -3C). Ha, almost noon, and I've just noticed that it's snowing. Good, it looks as if Flickr may be working OK this morning. All day yesterday, my photos were obviously not showing up on most people's Contacts' Photos page. I know some people were having the same problem. I'm digging into my archives for all three of my photos today. I haven't been getting out much with my camera, and on the days I have been out, there hasn't been much to photograph. Hopefully, that will change soon. It is so rare that I get a cold, but I know I have been run down the last while, and I came out in a cold a couple of days ago. This photo was taken on 21 May 2010, when I was on a Botany outing with a group of friends. A few of us were very fortunate on that day to have Anna Cairns guide us up and down rolling hills covered in natural prairie grassland, to look especially for a plant that none of us had never seen before - Yellow Bells / Fritillaria pudicao. Sure enough, after quite a lot of searching and a long hike, we found several hiding amongst the grasses. This area was west of Nanton (south west of Calgary) and this location is the furthest north recording of this species. We found several other new plants, too, which is always great. We had all seen Moss Phlox (seen in this photo) before. I will add a previously posted photo of a clump of bluish Moss Phlox seen on the same day, in a comment box below.

Moss Phlox (Phlox hoodii) is a native, semi-woody plant that grows on dry, eroded slopes and prairie grasslands. These tiny wildflowers, which are white to pale blue, are only 8-14 mm across, and bloom May-June. Very easy to miss them when out on a walk. This one was photographed last week at the Nodwell Sanctuary, south east of Calgary.

Moss Phlox is one of the earliest blooming plants each spring. This plant, which grows on dry, eroded slopes and prairie grasslands, has semi-woody, tufted branches. A very low-growing plant with stems up to 5 cm tall, with flowers that are only 8-14 mm across. Occasionally, you can come across a plant that has bluish flowers instead of white. The flower in my photo was blooming at Sandy Beach, west side of the river.