Alberta Wanderings 2010

[Maggi Young]

I  shouldn't think it would keep too long, cohan.... most " daisy" type seed likes to be sown fresh. I've never had much luck with older stuff .... perhaps Kristl can advise better....

 edit some 2 days later......
Sorry, I've just realised that I wrote "daisy" there when I  was thinking about seeds from  fluffy seed heads like Dryas and Pulsatilla.... I got the fluffy bit in my mind, turned that into Dandelion, thought yellow daisy.... and wrote daisy..... I'm getting worse!

[cohan]

i have sown very few things in Rosaceae..i suppose i'd likeliest sow them and leave outdoors over winter..
i hope i can get back to get some seeds, though it seems the window can be short between ripening and blowing away! i ask about keeping, since i have a few of presumed Dryas integrifolia from the lower altitude site along Abraham Lake which i got last year, and never had a chance to sow...

[cohan]

okay, back to plants from around home--boy i am farther behind than i thought--back to early june!
full albums of this outing  are in two albums:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010Part2ViolasPrettySkunksAndMore#
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010TheDisporumDisappointment#

i showed you earlier some ribes, which i have been making some effort to id this year, we have a number of them..
first a couple i have not yet found names for, but these are both gooseberry types--flowers similar, but leaves are different, and thorns as well, i think; these are fruiting now, there are green and dark/red berried types, so i will try to match flower and berry pics, later..
pics 1,2 Ribes sp
i'm not always clear when its a new species, since some of these are variable, but here we have a pink flower
pics 3,4 Ribes sp
pic 5 Ribes glandulosum a much darker flower than those i posted earlier, but otherwise seem to be the same sp; i have come across some of this type in fruit now, and though they are supposed to taste/smell skunky i found them at first bland, but think maybe those were underripe, and more recent finds were quite tasty with just a hint of muskiness

[cohan]

full albums of this outing  are in two albums:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010Part2ViolasPrettySkunksAndMore#
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010TheDisporumDisappointment#

1-3 Mertensia paniculata is a very common plant here, growing in almost every soil, light and moisture combination except standing water and baking dry sun (rare in my immediate area, anyway); it blooms over a long season from late spring, reaching its peak in early to mid june, but continuing after that;
4 a rare infestation
5 buds are usually pink, but occasionally flowers remain pink after opening..

[cohan]

full albums of this outing  are in two albums:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010Part2ViolasPrettySkunksAndMore#
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010TheDisporumDisappointment#

i was sure i found berries of Disporum last fall (surely i could not confuse that odd texture with anything else?)  in a small section of woods on the family farm, but i have been unable to locate plants this year!!
its not a large area, and i thought i knew more or less where to look, and what sort of spot, but no luck!
pic 1 undergrowth is dense, as you can see
pics 2,3 the only 'lilies' i found were Maianthemum stellatum and Maianthemum canadense
pic 4  present in fair numbers was Actaea rubra only some plants in full flower at that time; plant size varies considerably, no doubt older larger root systems supporting the large ones...
pic 5 also present, scattered among other things, close to the ground, the delicate Moehringia lateriflora
pic 6 the ubiquitous Cornus canadensis i promise to learn the new name one day... still immature colour here, i think..

[cohan]

full albums of this outing  are in two albums:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010Part2ViolasPrettySkunksAndMore#
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June062010TheDisporumDisappointment#

i never showed gerd the Violas at the other site i mentioned, where they are growing more in the open than they usually do here
pics 1 the plants are along the edge of the brushy area to the left centre, and just into the trees
pic 2 Viola canadensis
pics 3,4 the more common Viola adunca i think (we have some marsh sp growing in similar places) growing in the open with the shade only of grasses and forbs

[Gerdk]

Cohan,
Thank you for the violet pics and especially for showing the growing conditions. Viola canadensis is an easy species here in Germany - in sunny and also in shady conditions.
Please let me tell you that I enjoy ALL your distributions - not only when my favorite plants are shown. Please continue your interesting reports!

Gerd

[cohan]

Cohan,
Thank you for the violet pics and especially for showing the growing conditions. Viola canadensis is an easy species here in Germany - in sunny and also in shady conditions.
Please let me tell you that I enjoy ALL your distributions - not only when my favorite plants are shown. Please continue your interesting reports!

Gerd

thanks, gerd

[Maggi Young]

I  shouldn't think it would keep too long, cohan.... most " daisy" type seed likes to be sown fresh. I've never had much luck with older stuff .... perhaps Kristl can advise better....

Sorry, I've just realised that I wrote "daisy" there when I  was thinking about seeds from  fluffy seed heads like Dryas and Pulsatilla.... I got the fluffy bit in my mind, turned that into Dandelion, thought yellow daisy.... and wrote daisy..... I'm getting worse!

[cohan]

I  shouldn't think it would keep too long, cohan.... most " daisy" type seed likes to be sown fresh. I've never had much luck with older stuff .... perhaps Kristl can advise better....

Sorry, I've just realised that I wrote "daisy" there when I  was thinking about seeds from  fluffy seed heads like Dryas and Pulsatilla.... I got the fluffy bit in my mind, turned that into Dandelion, thought yellow daisy.... and wrote daisy..... I'm getting worse!

no problem,it stopped me for a second, but then i realised you meant the fluffy daisy-like seed heads, not daisy family

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Cohan... good to know someone knows what I mean, even if I have trouble myself......

Many thanks for your continued sharing of your scernery and plants. 

[cohan]

thanks, maggi-- i hope some folks enjoy seeing whats growing around here!
still on catch-up, now a few shots from the acreage, mid june;
1 a wet area to one side of the acreage, a mainly natural area, though i have been harvesting deadwood to use as firewood, and clearing out a tangle of dead willow branches, so its more open now than it was a couple of years ago
2 Caltha palustris still going strong at that time in shady areas such as this
3  a small 'ridge' where topsoil was mounded when our sewage lagoon was excavated (early '70's); we've harvested the black organic soil from this spot for adding to beds and pots over the years! this is in a low, damp area, now mostly overgrown with young poplars, underneath you see a colony of
4 Petasites sp this seems to be the hybrid form, between P sagitattus with arrow shaped leaves, and P frigidus v palmatus with palmate leaves; the latter is a mainly woodland species here, the former growing in mostly open wet areas, and every variant of leaf shape between the two is commmon
5 just beside the house, Amelanchier alnifolia with aspens and spruce

[cohan]

slowly plugging away on the season's pics!
just finished a couple of albums from a walk on my uncle's farm in mid june.first part:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June162010VioletsAndChickweeds#

some images of critters first..
1 a big anthill! there are supposed to be even more ants in the tropics than here--hard to imagine there could be more than there are here--they are the primary lifeform here!!
2 Cornus canadensis with visitor
3 Petasites sagittatus with visitor; these landsnails are not much seen here..
4 Urtica dioica stinging nettle, supposed to be tasty and very nutritious to eat (cooked for humans!) these guys seem to agree!
5 Viola canadensis note the spider lurking to the left side.....

[Gerdk]

Cohan, Your Viola canadensis pic inspired me to check the flowers of my own plants (US - origin). They grow exceptionally well in heavy soil in a sunny position in my new front garden. I noticed that there was a good deal of pink at the back of the flowers and also the fading ones turned pink.
Sorry for the late reply but I wasn't able to photographe because it was raining nearly all the time until this afternoon.

Gerd

[cohan]

Cohan, Your Viola canadensis pic inspired me to check the flowers of my own plants (US - origin). They grow exceptionally well in heavy soil in a sunny position in my new front garden. I noticed that there was a good deal of pink at the back of the flowers and also the fading ones turned pink.
Sorry for the late reply but I wasn't able to photographe because it was raining nearly all the time until this afternoon.

Gerd

nice plants, gerd the pink is also strongest on the backs of flowers, but some when open clearly show pink, others seem totally white, and certain colonies seem inclined one way or the other;could be soil or other conditions which affect those  colours-i guess you'd need to grow them side by side to compare..
as to the heavy soil, certainly here, few native plants are fussy about soil, except maybe bog plants--and even then, maybe more about moisture than soil..most of our forest plants even will grow on more or less clayey soil if moisture and light are right, or on spruce duff--the native plants are spreading happily up a huge a pile of woodash!
we have had quite a bit of rainy/unsettled weather this summer too, and the heatwave gripping north america has completely passed us by!
today, however, is warm and mostly sunny and i need to get out and do some mowing--after i finish my coffee 

i very soon have the promised bog/marsh violas to show you to see what you think...