Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Aster

Usually, when I'm on a botany walk with friends and we come across a certain plant, our naturalist leader will announce that it is a Showy Aster. And usually, it has no flowers. This time, a plant was blooming, so I thought I had better take a photo for the record. Lol, I need flowers on any plant in order to know what it is - I really can't tell from just the leaves and stem. By now, I should have a much better knowledge, but unfortunately, I don't. In the morning of 25 September 2015, six of us were lucky enough to explore a tiny part of the land belonging to Frances and David Dover. For two of us (myself and our leader), this was our second visit - for the rest, it was a first time there. I will copy and paste the description I posted on Flickr from our first visit to the Dover's acreage, on 7 August 2015: "Yesterday, 7 August 2015, four of us were extremely fortunate to have the chance to visit the home and highly varied topographic 62-acre property belonging to Frances and David Dover. We felt honoured and privileged to meet and spend time with Frances and David, and also their daughter Carolyn and her husband Clair. A delightful family who welcomed us so warmly into their home and land. This acreage of grassland, forest, rolling hills - and special gardens - is not far from Millarville, SW of Calgary. In fact, it's in an area that I often drive through when I only have time for, or only feel like doing, a short drive. Amazing what little gems exist out there. This is not just a beautiful property, but is very special for various reasons. For one thing, read any history of Alberta and you will find the Dover family, including David's mother, Mary Dover. Second, among the trees and open "lawns", there are Peony flower beds, containing 100-150 heritage Peonies, each one different, that have now multiplied to more than 300 plants. Unfortunately, they bloomed a couple of weeks early this year, and all the flowers had gone to seed. Another open area had a different kind of ground cover - Thyme, which smelled wonderful. If I remember correctly, this was the open space where the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra performed on one occasion! There are two large ponds on the property and another smaller area of water that they hope to turn into a Japanese Garden. It was while walking around the latter that a large brown 'shape' could be seen through the dense trees - a handsome Moose buck. I will look properly at the four or so photos I just managed to get and will slip one of them into my photostream sometime soon, just for the record, definitely not for the photo quality : ) This was also where a Great Horned Owl was seen flying through the trees by some of us (not me, ha!). There are grassy paths winding through the acreage, up and down hill, that take David seven hours to mow. They are not pristine, velvety paths, but instead, they seem to take nothing away from the wildness of the whole area. One of the animals that have passed through is the Cougar. In fact, several years ago, I saw a video taken on a nearby (or adjacent?) property, where a 'kill' and night-time camera had been set up and a total of six different Cougar individuals were seen! Even the Dover's home is unique and beautiful. It is completely built of concrete - floors, walls, ceilings, roof, deck, and so on. A Hummingbird feeder and regular bird feeders, set up on the patio, attract a variety of birds. We sat on the patio after our walk to eat our packed lunches - and to enjoy a delicious Orange Pound Cake that Frances had made for us, along with refreshing Iced Tea - thank you so much for this, Frances! Yesterday, while I was waiting for one of three tiny Calliope Hummingbirds to come back, I was lucky enough to see a little Mountain Chickadee, along with many Pine Siskins. We could also hear a Red-tailed Hawk in the area. There is just so much I could write about this visit and family. Instead, or for now, I will add several links to more information on the Internet. This was a memorable day for us. Thank you so much, Frances and David, Carolyn and Clair, for being so kind and welcoming us into your home and gardens. books.google.ca/books?id=Tr36Tq_gadcC&pg=PA290&lp... www.westernwheel.com/article/20110727/WHE06/307279983/-1/... David's mother, Mary Dover (her father was A. E. Cross), was "a dynamic and distinguished Calgarian, particularly known for her work with the military during World War II." As well as being an army officer, and an alderman, she was also a preservationist. See the following link. www.albertachampions.org/champions-mary_dover.htm#.VcY1KP... ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesMainResults.aspx?XC=/searc... glencoe.org/documents/10184/637479/The-History-of-Elbow-P... page 44-45 ." After our visit to the Dover's on 25 September 2015, I decided to drive eastwards along a road that I'd never driven before, until I reached the main road going south. From there, it was a fairly short drive to the Saskatoon Farm. As usual, I wandered round the grounds with my camera and then, when I was ready to leave, I ordered a pizza to take home with me. The inside of the gift shop has recently been renovated and they now have a pizza oven and area.

At this time of year, there are Asters growing in the wild everywhere, When I see them, I know that fall is on its way. Today, 3 September 2014, at 9:30 a.m., it is pouring with rain and the temperature is 8C (apparently feels like 4C). This photo was taken along the Akamina Parkway in Waterton Lakes National Park, on 26 August 2014. Friends, Cathy and Terry, and I, stayed for two nights in Waterton, on 26 and 27 August 2014. This park is about 276 km south of Calgary and roughly a three hour drive. During the time we were there, we explored all four drives in the area: the Akamina Pathway that leads to Cameron Lake; the Red Rock Parkway; the Chief Mountain Highway which takes you up to the US/Canada Customs; and the Bison Paddocks. This was a driving trip, not a hiking trip - which is just as well, as a young woman was attacked by a Cougar on one of the trails, on one of the days! A few of the things we saw during our three-day trip included fantastic scenery, 4 Black Bears (including one that was swimming in the lake), Bison, Deer (including several that we saw in the village of Waterton, where we stayed the two nights at the clean and friendly Bear Mountain Motel), Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, various bird species including the endangered Burrowing Owls (new to all three of us), a few wildflowers, several Yellow-bellied Marmots (a first for me!), a few different insect species, and a family of some species of Grouse (still not sure what kind). I even got the chance to see three or four new-to-me old, wooden grain elevators.

I took this photo last July. A friend who was getting a little confused about how to tell if a flower was an Aster of a Fleabane held these two examples and asked if I'd take a photo for her. It's telling what kind of Aster I come across that becomes a real problem for me - there are so many different kinds growing in the wild. Oh, by the way, the smaller, purple flower is the Aster. The Fleabane has much narrower petals and many more of them. To get a completely accurate ID, of course, one needs to look at the whole plant.

Love the way these wild Asters coil their dying petals so perfectly. Photographed at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on 23 September 2010.

I love the way Asters curl their petals when the flower is beginning to age. Noticed this one at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on 23 September 2010. I knew I had a photo or two of this flower "somewhere" and discovered it a while ago, when I was backing up a few more photo files from 2010. It was a sad day yesterday at the Calgary Zoo. Foggy, a 47-year-old River Hippoptamus and the Zoo's oldest resident, had to be euthanized because of age-related problems. My condolences, especially to the Zoo staff. "Foggy, the 47-year-old hippopotamus at the Calgary Zoo who got his name from his foghorn-like bellow, was euthanized today by zoo officials because of the animal’s declining health. The hippo, which came to the zoo in 1965 after being born at the Houston Zoo, had been in deteriorating health for several years because of its advanced age, zoo officials said in a news release. “Sadly, the time had come when there was nothing more we could do to mitigate his many age-related ailments and we felt that his quality of life was simply not acceptable anymore,” said Jamie Dorgan, area curator. The hippo fathered seven offspring during its life with three different mates, including three with its enclosure mate Sparky. Foggy was the oldest animal at the zoo." © Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

I got LOST after falling behind on a walk so that I could take a few photos of this beautiful Smooth Blue Aster flower with curling petals! I almost always fall behind a little so that I can take a photo of something, but I guess I must have taken longer than usual this time : ). However, one good thing that came out of the experience was that I discovered a tiny patch of Prairie Gentians, which had not been recorded there before. I have to admit that when I finally found the rest of the group, it then took a LONG time to find the Gentians again, LOL. I need a GPS :)

I finally took a new photo of the delicately curling petals of a Showy (?) Aster last week. I'm not sure you would even notice what was happening with the petals if you didn't know what to look for, as the curls on these wildflowers are only very small. I wonder if there is a purpose for this happening.

There are so many species of Aster growing in the wild and I don't think I will ever get them memorized. I always seem to run out of time before labelling my photos, which doesn't help at all. However, I took this photo on a walk in the Weaselhead Natural Area this morning and was determined to get the name added immediately. It is also known as Siskiyou Aster. Moya, knowing that you could possibly see this shot gave me an added incentive to post and label it, so thanks, LOL!

Not sure if this is a Fly or a Hover Fly. Whatever it is, it's very spikey! It wasn't until I got home early this afternoon, after going on half of a bird walk followed by a couple of hours of the semi-annual Weaselhead Clean-up, that I discovered something. When I cropped and enlarged this photo, I saw that this Aster has those beautiful coiled petals like another photo I uploaded a few days ago. How clever that nature has designed these Asters to coil so carefully. I wonder if any other flowers do the same thing when they begin to die.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Fish Creek Park to look for some Asters to see if I could see coiled petals again. Sure enough, this clever work of Mother Nature was in evidence there. The dying flower is perhaps only half an inch across, so a person is most unlikely to notice this, unless seen in a cropped, enlarged image.

Though this image could certainly do with being much sharper, it shows the dying petals of an Aster flower beginning to curl. Eventually, each petal forms a tight coil.

This small plant was introduced from Europe and grows in gardens, fields and waste areas. This particular plant was growing under a fallen, dead log, on rough gravel near a creek. Apparently, the Pilgrims brought Common Groundsel to North America to treat the early stages of cholera.

We saw quite a few of these Fritillary butterflies yesterday on the Fullerton Loop Trail out near Allen Bill Pond, Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). Fritillary butterflies can be difficult to ID exactly, so I'd better not even try.

"Just" a butterfly on a flower. Some kind of Fritillary.

I always like these small, purple flowers but I'm not sure which (of many!) kinds of Aster this is. My bad habit - forgetting to include the leaves for ID purposes!

...of some kind! These asters were covered in butterflies out in the Elbow River Valley, west of Calgary.