Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: South American

It must sound very familiar by now when I say: " A bright, cheery flower for a white, snowy day", LOL. "Alstroemeria (syn. Alstremeria), commonly called the Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas, is a South American genus of about 50 species of flowering plants. Almost all of the species are restricted to one of two distinct centers of diversity, one in central Chile, the other in eastern Brazil. Species of Alstroemeria from Chile are winter-growing plants while those of Brazil are summer-growing. All are long-lived perennials except A. (Taltalia) graminea, a diminutive annual from the Atacama Desert of Chile." From Wikipedia. This morning, was out driving the roads east of Calgary with a friend, hoping to see some kind of owl, but no sign of a Snowy, Short-eared or even a Great Horned Owl : ) The weather turned nasty, snowing and with very poor visibility along most of the roads. It's kind of a neat effect, though, when the endless flat fields are exactly the same colour (white!) as the sky.

Not sure what these small flowers are called - they seem to grow with perhaps three of these flowers in a cluster. Yep, bought from my usual place, LOL. Later: thanks so much to *Kevin45* for the ID and link - much appreciated! Needed some bright colour this evening, after being out in "winter" in the mountains. It was beautiful there, though. A friend had invited me to go with him to search for White-tailed Ptarmigan in the Highwood Pass area, Highway 40, Kananaskis. SO much snow has accumulated up there, and snowshoes or skis is the only way to "travel", unless you walk along the edge of the highway, which we did for just a very short distance. No sign of those white birds with the tiny, black, beady eyes, though. "Alstroemeria (syn. Alstremeria), commonly called the Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas, is a South American genus of about 50 species of flowering plants. Almost all of the species are restricted to one of two distinct centers of diversity, one in central Chile, the other in eastern Brazil. Species of Alstroemeria from Chile are winter-growing plants while those of Brazil are summer-growing. All are long-lived perennials except A. (Taltalia) graminea, a diminutive annual from the Atacama Desert of Chile." From Wikipedia.