Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Echinops sp.

The five photos posted this morning were all taken yesterday, 11 September 2018. Our botany season has come to an end and so our main Naturalist had a group of us visit his amazing garden and a walk to look at wild and garden plants in his neighbourhood. Not the greatest weather, but at least the rain kept away. I think rain is in the forecast for the next week, which is a pity, as the fall leaves will all be on the ground before we know it. Mixed precipitation tonight. I always enjoy seeing Globe Thistles, though the Reader Rock Garden is where I usually see them. These tall plants are popular with bees and butterflies. This species beongs to the Sunflower family, Asteraceae. "The plants are native to Asia and Europe and the name means hedgehog in Greek, which is appropriately referencing the prickly blooms."

This is my MAIN photo of the day - I'm wondering if one of my other two shots is being seen by some people as the main one, again. Also, it's almost 12:00 noon and there are only eight new photos showing from my Contacts! Is everyone out enjoying the weather, or is Flickr acting up yet again?? For maybe a week, I have been having a problem getting my photos to be bright enough. So weird - I never had this happen before. They seem to look OK when I edit them the night before, then, when I post them on Flickr the following morning, they almost always look too dark. On 16 September 2015, I called in at the Reader Rock Garden after my volunteer shift. There seemed to be more flowers in bloom than on my previous visit. I love photographing these gorgeous Globe Thistles at any stage. In Calgary, we have seen them growing wild at one of the natural areas (can't think of the name of the place, as it's not a place we normally go to). Not sure, but I believe this is Echinops ritro. "Echinops ( /ˈɛkɨnɒps/) is a genus of about 120 species of thistles in the daisy family Asteraceae, commonly known as globe thistles. They are native to Europe east to central Asia and south to the mountains of tropical Africa." From Wikipedia. There were also quite a few distant small birds flitting from tree to tree at one point They were impossible to see well enough to get photos or IDs - - a little Hermit Thrush was the only bird I managed to photograph. I also noticed a Jack Rabbit in the Garden and then, when I drove through the adjoining cemetery, it or another one was running in among the gravestones. When it saw my car coming, it froze and waited till I had moved on.

Note: this photo is my "main" (i.e. very last to be uploaded) photo out of the three I've posted this morning. I uploaded the other two first and then uploaded this main image separately, to see if that makes any difference. I did try doing it a couple of times this way weeks ago and seem to remember that there was something I didn't like with the result, but can't for the life of me remember what it was, ha. Hopefully, Flickr (or something else) won't change the order of the way you see my photos displayed! I did the same yesterday and it worked OK for a friend. Still so many small things going wrong on Fickr (for me, anyway), including Bad, bad Panda often when I click on Stats. Often when I click on something, nothing happens, I'm just stuck. Just now, the most recent comment posted has reappeared as the first, not last, comment. Just so many tiny things happening, that shouldn't be happening. Here in Canada, it is a long weekend, as Monday (tomorrow) is Heritage Day in Alberta, an occasion to celebrate the heritage of the peoples of the province. The origins of the holiday on the first Monday in August each year seem to go back to a “day of recreation” first organized by Toronto City Council in 1869. The weather couldn't be better, so enjoy! This photo was taken last Wednesday, 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 Globe Thistle - 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!

Taken at Carburn Park on 24 September 2012, at the end of a three-hour walk looking for birds (and anything else!). Usually, I find Globe Thistles after all their petals have died and fallen off, so it was a welcome change to see the blueness/purple of this one. I don't know what species of Globe Thistle this is. "Echinops ( /ˈɛkɨnɒps/) is a genus of about 120 species of thistles in the daisy family Asteraceae, commonly known as globe thistles. They are native to Europe east to central Asia and south to the mountains of tropical Africa." From Wikipedia. Yikes - SNOW is in our forecast for 3rd October - NEXT WEEK! I am so not ready for this!