Twin Lakes, West Central Alberta, June 09

[cohan]

okay, i guess i'm stretching the concept of Flowers and Foliage 'Now"--sorry! i am still way behind on sorting/editing photos--this time of year i take from dozens to hundreds of shots a day (of course, a big part of the high numbers is taking multiple shots to ensure one good one, esp when shooting small flowers and/or windy spots!)..

so, just under one month ago, June 13, we took a short drive west (say, 40km)--just past the town where i work (Rocky Mountain House), to a small provincial recreation area--mainly centred around fishing and camping; the area is named Twin Lakes for two small side by side lakes (i cant remember right now if they connect or not) but there are several more 'lakes' which have dried up to be just ponds, sloughs, marshes--or combinations of the above..
most of our landscape is glacial in original form, so i assume these lakes were in hollows left in the retreat of glaciers after the last ice age, but without particular water flow to maintain them, so some have filled in with sediments and plant build up over time..
these wet areas are surrounded by forest of spruce (esp in wetter spots) and pine  with a lot of heathy vegetation in mossy rather damp open forest areas, and some sandy dry more open areas--these are along trails/access roads, i'm not sure these open areas would exist naturally...

this area is just within the Foothills Biome, though there is little change of elevation relative to where i am, but still, as local gardeners assure me, even a 20minute drive nearer the mountains results in earlier and later frosts, this combined with the sometimes sandy soils (unheard of here) result in some species being common which are not much seen here, though many species are typical boreal species common in both places...

i paid little attention to the main lake, the haunt of boaters and fishers, and headed off a trail into the bush...
pic 1 the trail leads through a damp area at the edge of one of the ex-lakes--now full of marsh grasses in the middle... all the shrubs along the trail--salix, and later amelanchier etc, showed signs of regular pruning by deer/moose;
pic 2 all the Amelanchier and prunus i saw were only a couple of feet high...
pic 3  -Maianthemum canadense growing more or less in the open along the trail, one of the species common here and there
pic4 Juniperus Arctostaphylos and poplars
pic 5,6, 7 a charming little pond a remnant of yet another lake, surrounded by forest
with a stunning large stand of Calla palustris
pic8,9 more views along the trail, a dryish higher area, then offtrail to a wet mossy area along another overgrown lakeshore;this ground was very soft, and likely has standing water at wet times/years

[cohan]

pic 1 into an area of rather open mixed coniferous forest, rather moist and mossy, though not a low spot;
pic 2-7 everywhere except low wet areas-Arctostaphylos uva-ursi with flowers ranging from very pale to deep pink; i assume these are variations, but could relate to age of flower?
pic 8 looking up...

[cohan]

pic 1 also in this semi-moist open forest, a Betula birch catkin; here, usually, birches are colonising species, rather fond of open areas, and often overgrown later by larger poplars and spruces; in the foothills biome, they may last longer in  the open forest, not sure...
pic 2 near the edge of the forest, in  a semi-shaded spot, Pulsatilla patens long past flower and seed, if it did so this year..only one i saw..
pic 3,4 still in the  semi-moist mossy open forest, on slight hills, a large open colony of Aralia nudicaulis, just budding and leafing out; this is a species quite common in that area, that i had never seen around here, and wondered why; recently walking a couple of miles up the road, i found some! very happy day
pics 5-9 Vacciniums; not positive, but maybe V vitis idaea in bud, and V myrtilloides

[cohan]

last set..
pics 1,2,3 a few more views along the trail
pics 4,5,6 beside the main lake (i should have taken a shot, but there were people there...lol--i may search for a file image , just off the parking lot, Maianthemum stellatum which wasn't quite in flower yet here at that time..

[cohan]

okay, i found a view of one of the main lakes, from august, 2008; just about where the maianthemums were..

[Ragged Robin]

Such a contrast to your previous venture, Cohan, all that water is quite startling!  Your photos show such a variety of plants that love the moisture and the stand of Calla palustris is, as you say, awesome 

[cohan]

Such a contrast to your previous venture, Cohan, all that water is quite startling!  Your photos show such a variety of plants that love the moisture and the stand of Calla palustris is, as you say, awesome 

tks, robin--yes, quite a different place! this one is much more similar to home, some subtle differences..here we also have a lot of wet areas, and mixed forest...

[Paul T]

Thanks Cohan.  Some fascinating this in there.  Love the different colour forms in the Arctostaphylos uva-ursi.  Great stuff!! 

[cohan]

thanks paul there's another park very near this one, where i saw Cypripedium last year among other things, havent had a chance to get there..i'm hoping maybe this week, but cant say yet...

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Fascinating area Cohan !
Thanks for introducing it !! 

[cohan]

glad you enjoyed, luc...
working on my backlog of pictures from around home... i'm trying to decide if its better to continue showing them chronologically, or if i should group them  by species/genera...

[Paddy Tobin]

Cohan,

What a contrast to your previous bare countryside report. Such a lush area, variety of growing conditions side by side and an interesting selection of plants.

Your photograph of Aralia nudicaulis makes it looks so completely innocent and harmless while it is a suckering thug in the garden.

Does sassafras grow in your area? It is one of those trees which fascinates me and, to date, has frustrated my attempts to get one from seed to planting in the garden. I have managed to germinate the seed but find it doesn't do well in a pot afterwards.

Many thanks for an interesting report and photographs.

Paddy

[Rodger Whitlock]

Does sassafras grow in your area [sc Alberta]?

Sassafras is an easterner growing from I don't know how far into the American South well into New York state and probably into Ontario and Quebec. I doubt it grows natively west of the Mississippi River very far, if at all. (Cohan may chime in and contradict me, in which case he's right and I'm wrong.)

Sassafras is an extremely variable plant. There's a quite large tree in the University of Washington's arboretum in Seattle, but around Rochester, NY, I remember it as a fairly low-growing shrub.

[cohan]

thanks, paddy--i would think this area might have been a bit more your cup of tea
rodger is right --i dont know the full range of sassafras--but our only two araliaceae are A nudicaulis and Oplopanax horridus--devil's club--which i have never seen in alberta, only in b.c., didnt know it grew in alberta til looking at the book i have now...lol

i have been speculating about growth forms and habitats of our native plants, and (to draw some overblown conclusions ) have realised that 'most' of them (of course not most in number of species, but most in terms of numbers of plants) are suckering and will grow in a wide range of spots from sun to shade and wet to dry--my theory goes that since moisture is highly variable here--wet spots often dry out and dry spots can be wet in wet years, and (without human intervention) all sunny spots (except open water, and that shrinks a lot in dry years and cattails and rushes move in) are soon grown over with tall plants/trees..so while plants may prefer one spot or another, they can usually be found in quite different places too..

[Paul T]

Out of interest, what exactly is it that you guys call Sassafras?