Alberta Wanderings 2010

[cohan]

still in june, a bike ride up the road i live on, with a loop around to come back on the next road over..
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June202010AGeraniumsAndRoses#
standard roadside stuff here,in the first set--
1-i showed a similar view in the dandelion seed thread--this is one of the reasons i don't even try to eliminate dandelions in my yard, just control them in beds!
2,3 Geranium richardsonii just getting going in mid-june; some of these early flowers seemed extra large; flowers are generally white, but with pink veining from  little/none giving nearly/pure white flowers to so much the flowers are nearly pink..petal shapes vary as well
4-6 Castilleja miniata most commonly seen ranging from salmon to scarlet
7 Lathyrus ochroleuca one of the most abundant peas; a modest climber/scrambler; good sized cream flowers

[cohan]

easy to see why this is the floral emblem of alberta--wild roses are everywhere! from fully exposed roadsides and field edges to open--even not so open-woods.. Rosa acicularis is most common in my immediate area; other species may be around, likely in drier habitats...
note the reason i am unlikely to put flowers in salads, or bring in wild bouquets! in the second shot...

[cohan]

farther up the road..
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/June202010BRueAndValerian#
its funny, as you travel along a road, there are stretches of roadsides (ditches, we call them) with little or nothng but grasses, agricultural weeds, and at best some of the most common wildflowers, shrubs, etc.. then, you can come on a spot which has numerous interesting (even if not actually rare) species..
i assume at least part of the reason for this (part of it being simply chance?) is that these spots, and/or the land adjacent to them, have been undisturbed for long enough for plants to seed in and multiply--yet they still have to remain untreed, if the species are sun-lovers..
anyway, one such nice ditch is a corner 6 miles up the road from me, where i have seen numerous asters, lilies, zigadenus, thalictrum, valerian, etc..
this time, Thalictrum venulosum among other things was in flower, male and female forms; a tricky plant to photograph, flowers being small and very wind-mobile! not a flashy plant, but pretty, i have not grown it, but i bet it would look nice in the garden (i did collect a few seeds recently..); here the female flowers were whitish, i'm pretty sure i photographed red ones in another location a couple of years ago...

[cohan]

just a little farther up the road..
of course the camera lens makes this look farther than it really is-this is about  a half mile stretch of road; nor so isolated as it may seem--there is a farmstead  not much more than a few hundred metres behind me, up a hill, then  past the trees at the end of this view, another half mile or less is the final farm on this no-exit road  (dead end sounds so harsh!)..of course all of this land is private farmland, whether it looks like it or not! the land to the left, and prob to the right as well,is fenced, meaning cattle are or at least could be grazed in there..
the second view is a zoom of the small lake which is a little ways off to the right from the first view..

[cohan]

on this ride, i went down another road i hadn't been on before, and it turned out to be a great decision--i found another damp meadow site with some choice species and good diversity.. i was looking forward to getting back to this spot for seed collection, and recently did, with very disappointing results, which you will see when i get those photos ready.....
this is where the photo maggi used in IRG of Dodecatheon with Antennaria was from; in fact they were also growing with Sisyrinchium, Zizia, Maianthemum, Polygonum, Lilium (only in bud at that time) etc...(the Taraxacum i didn't mention-- self-evident!)
full album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/June202010CShootingStarsAndAlexanders#
1-3 Dodecatheon pulchellum
4 Erigeron sp one of several barely pink, med-tall species, common to not too dry to damp grassy areas
5 Polygonum viviparum i was happy to find this flowering in several sites this year; in past i had seen the leaves  several places on the farm, and was unsure at first what it was, as in shady places it may not flower..
6 Zizia aptera i was excited for this first spotting of this species, also, as i knew it was in the province, but had never seen it in person, and didn't know it was in my area...our only yellow flowered Umbellifer..

[David Nicholson]

Cohan, just a line to say how much I enjoy your Alberta wanderings and thank you for taking the time to add it to the Forum's riches.

[cohan]

thanks, david, the comment is much appreciated

[Stephenb]

Nice to see another common plant with us - the Viviparous Bistort, very common here! I've actually just planted Zizia aptera in my garden! I've had Z. aurea for some years, a nice little used plant I think that flowers over quite a long period. Looks as though aptera is quite similar.... Keep them coming...

[TheOnionMan]

Cohan, I too have been enjoying these Alberta Wanderings, I really like these types of topics.  Your photo of Zizia aptera reveals an old friend to me; I grew this plant back in the 1980s when I lived in Washington State, and I found it to be such a pleasant little plant.  Every garden needs a "Z"  or zee-plant, and with Zauschneria now usurped by Epilobium, one can looks to Zizia to fit that need , a bit easier or faster than trying to establish Zigadenus.

I also like Thalictrum venulosum very much, most attractive.

[Ragged Robin]

Cohan, your wanderings have thrown up some wonderful and interesting flowerings - it's great when you suddenly come across a plant you're looking for or find one that is unexpected - do the roses have lethal thorns?  The wild ones here on the wild hillside are bright red barbs 

[cohan]

Cohan, your wanderings have thrown up some wonderful and interesting flowerings - it's great when you suddenly come across a plant you're looking for or find one that is unexpected - do the roses have lethal thorns?  The wild ones here on the wild hillside are bright red barbs 

thanks, robin--the cycling has been a real eye opener for me: many of our local plants are common or occasional over a very large area, so i knew quite a lot of species from the family farm and roadsides very close to home where i would walk, but cycling, sometimes even just a few miles has shown me many species that i had no idea were growing around here...
Rosa acicularis is very thorny (i think that's what the name means) but really more prickly than the big barbs seen on some cultivated roses and your wild ones by the sound of it--so you could get poked a lot, maybe scratched, but not ripped open
the other species native to the province have different thorns, but i don't really know them...

[cohan]

thanks, stephen and mark!
stephen-- i sometimes think my area (being a farming region) may not be fully explored in terms of plant ranges, since there are many common species here that i'm not sure are on the distribution maps (though admittedly its hard to find my area on tiny maps...lol)..
i don't know any other species of Zizia..i hope to grow this one, but i will have to try to find seeds, i may be too late; that spot was a  bust as you will see below..

mark--i like the zizia, hope to try the no longer zauschneria, i think lori had some, so its at least possible in my climate (so sad that our fireweeds are no longer epilobium, but this one now is....)..and happen to have a very nicely established Zigadenus elegans (of  course thats no longer a Z-plant either, some insulting name involving 'toxic')..
interestingly, Z elegans seems to be more and more common in my area (though i could be imagining it..) i don't remember seeing it around here growing up..i got a few seeds the other day, though most were not ripe yet, hopefully i will get the weather to get out and get more-i promised some to kristl!
i like the thalictrum too, haven't tried it in the garden yet, but i think it should be a good plant--nice foliage when not in flower..

i haven't edited the photo set yet, but here is one shot from this site showing what i found a few days ago when i went there hoping to collect seed: absolutely stripped bare! i thought it might well be grazed, but there is grazing and there is grazing!-most of the plants also grew outside the fence, and that's where i actually meant to collect seed, but cows have long necks and there was not so much as a leaf ! of most of the species,a good couple of feet past the fence you could not even tell that dodecatheon, zizia or lilies were growing there..likely they will grow back fine next year, but no seeds at all..
to make it worse, i think the ditch had been sprayed for 'weeds' so anything that the cows missed, the spray would have got.. (nice for beef eaters to think of those sprays reaching the grazing zone, which they surely must)

oops, forgot the pic!

[ashley]

Enjoying this thread very much Cohan.  Cycling is a great way to botanise

[cohan]

Enjoying this thread very much Cohan.  Cycling is a great way to botanise

thanks, ashley--it is great to get out on the bike--though i am experiencing the limitations of it, recently--we've been having rain more days than not, and i just can't get out: even if i didn't mind riding a couple of hours cold and soaked (don't have the high tech gear), i couldn't take photos and i'm not really keen on collecting wet seeds
hoping for some dry days soon, though none apparent in the next week's forecast (and of course, has to be a day off...)
i was hoping to get out today, but forecast changed from  possible showers late in the day to 'periods of rain' none so far, i probably should have got out early oh well.... nothing to do about it now.... i am out now to saw some firewood before it rains, and if its still ok will try to get out into the bush to collect Parnassia....

[cohan]

well, we did get some wood done, and there was still no rain, so i went out for a walk on the farm, into some wet areas, looking for Parnassia palustris seed, as mentioned above (i told kristl i'd try to get some for her)..
i did get some parnassia and there's more unripe if i can get out again at the right time (even some flowers still) plus some seed of a very pretty delicate marsh aster, and Comarum (potentilla) palustre, as well as Maianthemum trifolium, though many not ripe yet..some pretty fall colours coming along, but no sun to make them show off today, and bloody cold!- prob no more than 10C- i should have had a warmer layer on, and my feet were getting cold in my rubber boots!!