Pincushions, Yellow Umbrellas and Prickly Greeks

[Gerdk]

Thank you Cohan for taking us with you!
I enjoyed each part and (like Luc) being full of expectation for the following ones!

Gerd

[cohan]

thanks, luc and gerd
only one more stop to come, not too many more photos..
then it will be time to get back to flowers in my area!

[cohan]

last stop, site 3:
right around the corner from the official Hoodoo site, where people pack into 20square metres to see the best examples --the hoodoos are natural rock formations, created when a harder stone cap is left sticking out on top of more eroded lower layers of sandstone, clay etc..there are examples of the process in some of my photos, but there are very few of the really extreme formations, thats why everyone crams themselves into that tiny area where they exist...lol
just around the corner on the narrow access road, there is virtually no one (an ocasional hiker)..

these side valleys are eroded from the prairie above where water has washed down over time..
you can see the very dry valley walls, then more or less flat grassy areas between, and in the middle will be the area where the water flows when there is heavy rain or snow melt...these different zones present various habitats with differing amounts of water..
in the second pic, you see a larger side valley (where we drive in, but not where i took most of the photos) with a stream bed,(over to the right among the greenery) no flowing water now, but still wet in the middle; around this area are growing willows and other moisture loving vegetation
third photo, Linum perenne and Achillea in the grassy area up the side valley
four, five, six the wide grassy area between valley walls, full of Opuntia and various flowers scattered about
seven and eight show the interesting geology--various rocks and stones washing out of different sedimentary layers, such as these big chunks of what i think are petrified wood
nine shows the dry wash coming down between valley walls, farther down it widens, and again supports shrubs, willows etc near the end where moisture gathers

[cohan]

more views from site 3:
one a sandstone etc valley face, where you can see the hoodoo type formations, on a small scale..
two another view of the eroded valley walls..
three and four Artemesia? and Hymenoxys hows that for a natural rock garden??
five more rock gardening by nature, with what appears to be a small Prunus? (chokecherry or similar)
six i'm assuming from the very smooth clay/sand surface in the front, plus the fact that the cacti are half buried, and the distribution of the cacti--spreading out where likely pads have rooted--that this area experienced some degree of flooding at some point, where water coming down the slopes and/or through the valley piled up the debris, pooled there depositing sediment, and spread the cactus pads..don't know where those dead trees came from, didnt see anything that big up-valley(not big trees, but big for around there)
seven this time, the garden is right on the rock!
eight part of the dry stream bed that runs down the middle of the valley; must be some moisture at some point--see the moss! but presence of Hymenoxys suggests its more dry than not

[cohan]

last shots from site 3:
 lots of opuntias flowering, a few other things,
i didn't see many peas, overall, i think they probably flowered earlier, generally, but one nice one, maybe
Astragalus laxmannii var robustior
only even kind of match in my book...
Antennaria sp
i have seen one or another at virtually every site i have been to in alberta (not that i have been everywhere!) note again the shrivelling Pulsatilla behind it
Hymenoxys richardsonii
dotted everywhere, mostly looking past prime, but still bright...
and just a couple more
Opuntia flowers.....

[cohan]

finally to end this trip, we drove some distance further south, hoping to see some more Escobaria habitat, and while the countryside was definitely getting drier, we didn't see any good places to stop, and when we reached the transcanada highway, we turned back west, toward calgary and from there the fast highway home...
we made a little detour into downtown calgary, where my friend got a big pile of cheap kung-fu movies in chinatown! and we stopped for coffee and treats before heading home!

[Paul T]

Wonderful, Cohan.  Love that Astragalus.

[Maggi Young]

I'm loving these trips, Cohan. Enjoying the coffee and treats, too! Thanks!

[Sinchets]

I'll second that Paul. Though you do have me glad that you are in Australia! Only in that there were occasionally Astragalus/ Oxytropis for sale at members stalls at various AGS shows I have been too- I think if you'd been there we would have been elbowing each other out of the way!
Some great pics again Cohan- lovey to see how dry it all looks- but I guess these hidden seams of clay etc. are helping some of the plant communities on.
The unidenitified plant on page 2- Reply 27  image :unk090627_122046.JPG  .......
 could it be a dried out Potentilla?

[Lori S.]

I thought that too... possibly a stressed Potentilla norvegiva.

Can't resist commenting... the sandstones and mudstones in that area are not "rock-like" in the usual sense.  Due mostly to shallow burial, they are only poorly consolidated, and can be broken up quite easily, even crushed in the hand with little effort... As compared to what people think of as "rock", the roots don't really have much problem penetrating those types of sediments, without reliance on clay layers.  (The concretions, glacial erratics, and petrified wood, are the "real" rocks in that area, in the conventional sense.)

Again, terrific photo essay!

[Maggi Young]

Again, terrific photo essay!

 Cohan, I must second Lori's praise. 

And, Lori, I find your "geological insights" very helpful, thanks!

[cohan]

thanks for comments and inputs, all
re: astragalus et al---if i manage to get into the right places at right times, i will let you all know about seeds..
simon--i'm glad you enjoy these dry places, i really love them, though for various practical reasons, i'm glad its not so dry where i live--actually we finally got nearly a full day's rain-off and on, with more forecast over the next few days: we are supposed to start getting in july the rain we didnt have in june!
i'm not sure about the details, but i'm guessing the town of drumheller doesnt have too many water problems, they presumably get water from the red deer river, which starts out in the mountains up here, and drains this relatively wetter area, so should be reasonably full most of the time...

on the 'potentilla' i was thinking possibly along those lines also, though we have a few potentillas around,  old faves, and i didnt really think of it while i was taking the pic; the final word though, is that it was really snapped in a hurry and i didnt pay close enough attention or take detailed enough photos to really say much...lol...

of course lori is right on the 'rocks' the hard stuff is various bits and pieces left by glaciers in the softer sediments; what appears in a given spot is a matter of random chance as to what layers happen to have been eroded out by water and weather--so you could find a spot where the surface is all red, because a layer with red (sandstone? mudstone?) has been exposed, and its all crumbled and washed around, another area might be covered with sand or gravel, etc...
in practical terms for the plants, i think degree of slope is as important as soil make-up, or even more so--even the clays will simply shed water that runs over the surface, i suspect that only slower prolonged rains, and  snow will have a chance to penetrate much into the steeper areas; this is why as you get to the flats between the hills, there is the densest  vegetation, and in the areas where water pools or runs, even more..

[Paul T]

I'll second that Paul. Though you do have me glad that you are in Australia! Only in that there were occasionally Astragalus/ Oxytropis for sale at members stalls at various AGS shows I have been too- I think if you'd been there we would have been elbowing each other out of the way!

Simon,

You'd better believe it. Might even have been more than elbows involved. (Grumble, Grumble, Grumble!)

 

Can be quite frustrating viewing these things from afar. It's one of the reasons I rarely visit the shows section down at the bottom of the main page..... just too painful I think to see those things so perfectly grown and so unavailable here!    Sometimes I succumb and visit, but very rarely.

[Ragged Robin]

Cohan, I know the trip is over before I had a chance to comment but the journey is great through your pacey travelogue and so much to see in an apparently barren landscape - I love the huge skies and rocky mountain shapes with dry grass blowing and the yellow cactus flowers are amazing.  Last year I ate the fruit for the first time in Italy, freshly picked for breakfast - sensational and not a prickly one either 

[cohan]

Cohan, I know the trip is over before I had a chance to comment but the journey is great through your pacey travelogue and so much to see in an apparently barren landscape - I love the huge skies and rocky mountain shapes with dry grass blowing and the yellow cactus flowers are amazing.  Last year I ate the fruit for the first time in Italy, freshly picked for breakfast - sensational and not a prickly one either 

thanks, robin, glad you enjoyed i really like it down there, too--especially when i am walking among the hills and valleys with no one around, sun shining down...

our native cacti have edible fruits as well, though not nearly as large as the one you would have had in italy..