Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: someone's garden

On 27 July 2014, a few of us had a "tour" of a naturalist's garden, as part of an Open House here in the city. I was glad to have the chance to take a few photos of some colourful flowers, including Showy Milkweed.. This tiny Crab Spider had obviously slowly changed its colour to camouflage itself against the yellow flowers on which it was first found. In a comment box below is another photo of the same spider, posted previously. "Thomisidae do not build webs to trap prey, though all of them produce silk for drop lines and sundry reproductive purposes; some are wandering hunters and the most widely known are ambush predators. Some species sit on or beside flowers or fruit, where they grab visiting insects. Individuals of some species, such as Misumena vatia, are able to change color over a period of some days, to match the flower on which they are sitting. Some species frequent promising positions among leaves or bark, where they await prey, and some of them will sit in the open, where they are startlingly good mimics of bird droppings. These spiders may be yellow or white, depending on the flower in which they are hunting. Especially younger females, which may hunt on a variety of flowers such as daisies and sunflowers, may change color "at will". Older females require large amounts of relatively large prey to produce the best possible clutch of eggs. They are therefore, in North America, most commonly found in goldenrod (Solidago sp.), a bright yellow flower which attracts large numbers of insects, especially in autumn. It is often very hard even for a searching human to recognize one of these spiders on a yellow flower. The color change from white to yellow takes between 10 and 25 days, the reverse about six days." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misumena_vatia

Those who know me will know that there was no way I could resist taking a quick shot of these large garden ornaments, seen through a chain link fence at the end of someone's garden. From a distance, they looked quite attractive. Taken yesterday evening, 6 August 2014, when I was on a nice, slow botany walk with friends in North Glenmore Park. A lot of the plants we were looking at were escapees from the gardens right next to the path in this part of the park.

On 27 July 2014, a few of us had a "tour" of a naturalist's garden, as part of an Open House here in the city. I was glad to have the chance to take a few photos of some colourful flowers, including the Showy Milkweed that I posted yesterday. This tiny Crab Spider had obviously slowly changed its colour to camouflage itself against the yellow flowers. "Thomisidae do not build webs to trap prey, though all of them produce silk for drop lines and sundry reproductive purposes; some are wandering hunters and the most widely known are ambush predators. Some species sit on or beside flowers or fruit, where they grab visiting insects. Individuals of some species, such as Misumena vatia, are able to change color over a period of some days, to match the flower on which they are sitting. Some species frequent promising positions among leaves or bark, where they await prey, and some of them will sit in the open, where they are startlingly good mimics of bird droppings. These spiders may be yellow or white, depending on the flower in which they are hunting. Especially younger females, which may hunt on a variety of flowers such as daisies and sunflowers, may change color "at will". Older females require large amounts of relatively large prey to produce the best possible clutch of eggs. They are therefore, in North America, most commonly found in goldenrod (Solidago sp.), a bright yellow flower which attracts large numbers of insects, especially in autumn. It is often very hard even for a searching human to recognize one of these spiders on a yellow flower. The color change from white to yellow takes between 10 and 25 days, the reverse about six days." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misumena_vatia It's supposed to get up to 34C (93.2F) this afternoon! Far too hot without air-conditioning! Maybe thunderstorms, which would feel great. After my volunteer shift, I need to go food shopping - can't wait to stand in the frozen foods section : )

I LOVE Alliums - see, Rebecca, great minds think alike : ) This huge beauty was growing in a spectacular garden that we visited a few weeks ago. That evening, we had visited a gentleman's cactus garden, and this other garden was just a few houses away. I just love all the tiny, "metallic-looking" stars. A handful of us went out to hike in Bragg Creek Provincial Park, west of the city, this morning, but ended up having to end our walk because of torrential rain! We did attempt to wait it out by going for delicious hot chocolate/coffee (a welcome treat - thanks to Dorothy and Stephen), but the rain just didn't quit. I think we have to wait till Friday before the weather improves, unless the forecast changes.

I think the left hand end of this beautiful Monarch caterpillar is the head end : ) Seen in someone's garden after our day of botanizing at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, 15 July 2012. Monarchs feed on Milkweed, in this case Showy Milkweed.

Showy Milkweed is growing in someone's garden and I was lucky enough to finally see a few Monarch caterpillars. I've seen so many beautiful photos taken by other people over the years and never thought I'd get the chance to see a Monarch. This year, though, has been unusual, as people have been seeing a few of these amazing butterflies in Alberta, including in Calgary. 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

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