Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: P1270392 FZ28

This is another plant I had never heard of before, until I visited the Calgary Zoo gardens nearly two weeks ago. The blue flowers were so pretty, especially against the hairy, green leaves. 'The plant known commonly as Alkanet is a biennial herb familiar to all herbalists.... Alkanet has a long history of use with many traditional herbalists. Alkanet is a European species; it is an invasive species in North America and can now be found growing locally in the wild from Maine up to New Jersey in the south as well as westward up to the states of Ohio and Michigan - it is seen as a weed in most of the places it grows in." From www.herbs2000.com .

This little Black-capped Chickadee flew down to someone's hand, so I made the most of it, despite the poor light : ) "In the fall, as the chickadee is gathering and storing seeds, its hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for spatial organization and memory in many vertebrates, expands in volume by approximately 30 percent by adding new nerve cells. .... In the spring, when its feats of memory are needed less, the chickadee's hippocampus shrinks back to its normal size." From www.innovations-report.com .