Alberta Wanderings

[cohan]

hi all--i thought i would start to share some photos of plants and flowers here in alberta--some in my 'backyard' (the 6 acre acreage i live on, plus the 300+acres of the main farm this is carved from), roadsides and fields around the area, etc;
others will be from trips short and not so short into parks and other climate zones in the province; i live where the boreal forest (north/west) meets the aspen/grassland areas (east/south); just to the west, the foothills biome begins, farther south, drier grasslands and badlands;
most of the province is dryish, though this area is not as dry as farther south, and in this band just in from the foothills (even more so just a bit to the west) is much less dry than farther east: much of our weather comes over the rocky mountains from the pacific, and while it loses most of its moisture in the western rockies in british columbia, it still has some to dump just outside the mountains;

my immediate region is agricultural, with lots of petroleum as well, but there remains a lot of uncleared or re-grown forest (this area is naturally forested), so while our flora is very low in endemism, there is quite a lot of good habitat, including a lot of wetlands, which may be grazed, but are not intensively cultivated, and not as suitable for escaped forage weeds, so a good place to see a lot of wildflowers, with roadsides, ditches and hay and forage fields  having room for many species as well; forested areas range from largely untouched, to heavily grazed/trodden by cattle, so quality of habitat varies, but there is enough of it to provide fairly good connections between patches for many species;

our winter is cold and long, though reasonably sunny, so by late winter/ early spring when there begin to be significant gaps in the snow, the eye is hungry for any sign of green, though flowers are still far away;
i decided to start with pictures from last year, since by the time things are happening this year, i will be outside more, and perhaps those in warmer climes will be in mid season!

the first few shots are from early april 2008--no real activity yet in these shots, these are overwintering rosettes of annuals/biennials/perennials--i told you i'm desperate at that season! but these little glimpses of green/colour in a mainly brown and gray landscape(apart from evergreen conifers, of course) are very welcome!

note that many of these plants, as well as the first emergents, later on, use red/purple pigments, and/or hairs to attract/hold on to whatever heat they can get! they will still get snow repeatedly after this date, and nights as well as some days, well below freezing for some time yet. none of these are plants that remain this small;

many of the photos are of plants partially id'd and any suggestions are welcome;

an unidentified purple crucifer, i think i have shots of it later on;semi-disturbed wet areas

Epilobium, probably palustre; this is by far its most charming season...lol;wet areas mainly, occasionally disturbed areas elsewhere

Corydalis aurea one of my very favourites esp because it has these lovely little glaucous green rosettes at a time when there is so little around; flowers come quite a bit later;disturbed areas in open woods or edges;here esp in the loose mounds of soil turned up by pocket gophers;widespread, but not that common, probably because it cant compete for long once other things grow into its disturbedd soil patches

Fragaria ; one of our most common plants everywhere except really wet areas; not clear if this local species is vesca or virginiana

Geum probably rivale, but there are a couple of species, i need to look more closely at several features; wet areas and disturbed areas, very common..
 
hope this first installment wasnt too boring...

[Maggi Young]

A great thread idea, Cohan.Super shots of the furry bits!

[cohan]

thanks, maggi--you guys are fast! i wasnt even sure i had the message posted properly yet (in fact i posted it twice, but i removed one...) and i see 5 views and your reply!
here's the second instalment, where we will actually get to see some flowers (i think...)

we are now at the beginning of may, 2008, and things have started to grow;
first a couple of unnamed bits

a couple i cant always tell apart in early foliage; plus some that grow in shaded areas never flower;
as i mentioned, this is predominantly a forested area, naturally, with temporary open areas after blow down, trees falling due to age etc, fires, and so on (of course more open areas due to human activity; even before coming of europeans etc, natives used to burn the forest in this area to expand the prairie, and therfor bison range!); this means that most plants can survive in semi/forest, even if they prefer/flower more in the open;
so you will see many species growing in varying degrees of shade, some without flowering at all, some with a few flowers (some doing quite well, thank-you); many of them spread vegetatively during this dark, crowded phase of their growth; if/when, something or someone removes the trees, they are ready to grow much more vigorously, flower /seed abundantly;
if that doesnt happen, in this area, eventually spruce will grow amongst the aspen, poplar and  birch etc, and the area will become shadier and shadier, and drier; fewer species will survive or thrive in the mature spruce forest, but when a big spruce goes down, they will still be ready to seed in--maybe even grow from a few straggling, surviving bits..
conversely, many of the forest plants will not usually be killed by the falling trees, they will still hang on in the sun, maybe with faded leaves, but probably more flowers than usual (maianthemums to come later on...)

an Anemone? or Ranunculus?
another (the same?) cress
? maybe someone can name this when i post flowers later; growing near corydalis; prob an agircultural weed
Epilobium palustre again, growing now
Glechoma-garden escape- one of two patches on the 325 acres, that i know of;its been there prob 30 years at least, the patch is now some metres, but i dont see it spreading elsewhere; one of the very first things to flower, the next pic shows the habitat,to the right, a few feet from the bases of the trees, about a week sooner: the Glechoma had probably been flowering before this snow fell, and kept right up as it melted out from it..
this view will also show you why, at that time of year, i am excited about little snippets of weeds...lol

[cohan]

i thought Petasites deserved its own post;
these are very common here,usually in wettish areas, though many of these would be dry in midsummer, in 'normal' years; the last couple of summers have been the wettest in around 50years, and there has been standing water in many places in midsummer, which i never saw growing up
--this is probably
Petasites sagittatus
also common along edges of woodlands, esp moist areas, is P. frigidus var palmatus, and hybrids between the two are supposed to occur;
there is some variation in this plant, as individuals may bear both male and female florets, or both; also, some individuals show a lot of purple/pink (especially on the outsides of buds/flowers) and others dont; this could be temperature related pigment;
when they first emerge, they are no more than a couple of inches high, by the time they are done flowering, and later emergers, will be near a foot(20-50cm according to the book); the leaves come later and can be to 30cm and put on a show of their own(we'll see them later) and fruiting stems up to 75cm with bright white fluffy seeds..
i think this plant could be very showy in the garden, but i think spreading is a real issue--maybe a contained/raised bog? though you'd want enough of a clump to appreciate the dramatic foliage

[cohan]

a few more from the same time, at the beginning of may
presumably
Mentha arvensis
our wild mint, common in wet, marshy areas; nice for teas, etc--i guess stevenb would approve?
young shoots of, presumably
Rumex crispus
introduced; purportedly among the most widespread plants on the planet; growing here in wet places;
there is a very charming, lowgrowing species found in the southeast of the province, that i'd like to get my hands on...
and--a pussywillow
Salix ?
we have lots of willows here, several species, i imagine; i havent begun to try to sort them out (i've only had 1 1/2 growing seasons here since moving back..)

[Gerdk]

Thank you Cohan,
An interesting start - please continue!
Which animal left its excrements on the Petasites?

Gerd

[cohan]

Thank you Cohan,
An interesting start - please continue!
Which animal left its excrements on the Petasites?
Gerd

thanks, gerd,
i think it was a deer..

[cohan]

still early may 2008
these few shots are on the edge of my acreage, a spot where coniferous (spruce and tamarack{larix}) forest grades into a wet area where willows predominate, birch are occasional through this zone, and aspens try where they can get enough sun and not too much water;
 the last couple of years have been the wettest in over 50, and these areas that would usually have been wet only in spring, have had standing water, and/or much higher moisture levels in in mid summer;
this is still early may, and you can see the small evergreens are not at their best--they can suffer when exposed in late winter/early spring  if snow levels are low, but the ground is still frozen, so they cant take up moisture..
these all grow on raised spots within the wet area--on hummocks grown around roots or fallen trunks
Ledum groenlandicum
the brown scraggly stuff...lol--the local plants of this species seemed really to have suffered last winter,and i didnt see any flowers, though another place i visited a bit farther west, they seemed healthier...
Pyrola asarifolia
super common around here, from right on the edge of the wet zones, into open woods, under the spruce, and even into roadsides and ditches in near full sun
Vaccinium vitis-idaea
bog cranberry, widespread, but never abundant, commonly at the base of conifers at the edge of wet areas
a view of this habitat--wetter areas to the right, the spruce forest to the left

[cohan]

the first of what we call cowslips here--
Caltha palustris
and a couple more Petasites with pollinators--these flowers are very sweetly scented, and at this time of year, almost the only thing in flower besides Salix, and Caltha just starting; this bee looks like she has managed to load up on pollen!

[Maggi Young]

Cohan, it ss easy to see how much you enjoy little plants by the detail you are showing us in your photos of these young shoots .... detail which many of us would otherwise miss.
I have to admit that I really did not know how intricate and beautiful the flowers of the Petasites were.... thanks for that insight!

[cohan]

thanks, maggi--i do hope at least a few people are enjoying these photos! there will be more flowers as i get farther along...lol
i do enjoy the details as well as the overall plant and setting; macro/close-up photography is definitely the friend of small or insignifcant plants and flowers! but i also like to look closely at larger/showier flowers-- a bed full of blue geraniums is lovely, but so is the veining and diaphanous detail of an intimate view
(ok, this isnt such a great shot, but its what i dug up on the spur of the moment...lol; noname Geranium in my yard, from my mom's plantings;very vigorous and totally hardy here at zone 2-3; has not seeded beyond its beds)

[David Nicholson]

Great thread Cohan I am enjoying your pictures.

[cohan]

Great thread Cohan I am enjoying your pictures.

thanks, david, glad you  are enjoying

it occurred to me i had mostly missed out on the willows, so i am backtracking a little to mid april 2008;
we have a lot of willows around here--mostly they are smallish--in areas that are left alone (many of the habitats on farms are occasionally cleared for grazing, and willows gradually grow back, when the growth gets too dense, they are cleared again) they do form some trunks up to maybe 20 feet, but unless they have a stronger tree to lean on, these thin trunks usually flop over, and generally dont seem to live terribly long; usually there are lots of new wands from the base...

some of them start to put out their pussywillows in midwinter--which might not seem strange in a mild climate like england, but does seem very odd to see any sign of life when the ground is frozen solid, and temperatures rarely venture above the freezing mark;
 if i remember correctly, these early catkins are male, and are not yet in flower--the wooly outside helps draw heat to the buds so that they can continue to develop over the next couple of months;
here in mid-april you see them in full flower, male and female..
i havent yet studied how to tell the various species apart,
Salix sp
male and female flowering catkins
i dont have any good overview shots of this very typical area, i will try to get some...though the snow is still deep on the ground, i remember as a child walking out on top of deep snow to gather pussywillows..
cohan

[Lori S.]

Wow, how I envy you being able to just walk out from your house into something approaching wild lands!  (I'd have a long walk from here, darn it!  )

A reflection on common names... I found it interesting that to you, "cowslips" is Caltha palustris.  To me, growing up on the prairies and learning common plants from my parents, "cowslips" was Lithospermum canescens... and then, of course, I eventually found that the name referred (first, presumably?) to Primula veris... Well, at least the flowers are all yellow - though that's probably almost all they have in common.  No wonder people get confused! 

In your second set of photos, the one you refer to as "prob an agircultural weed" appears to be Descurainia sophia, or flixweed - yes, an introduced agricultural weed.

Nice to look forward to spring, though chances are it will be a bit delayed this year, with more snow than usual.

[Gerdk]

Enjoyed your willow pics very much although I immediately got a bad attack
of hay fever. It seems the pollen was carried over with the photos. 

Gerd