Summer flowers in the Zillertal alps

[Peter Maguire]

6. Having seen extensive areas of yellow flowers of the moraine below the cable car, I headed in this direction. This Saxifraga moschata was one of the first thing to be found, it was everywhere once you started looking, although in flat light not immediately obvious. The light was, however good for photography.
7. and 8. This was the yellow plant, probably Doronicum grandiflorum, but I'm not entirely convinced by the leaves that I have the correct name.
9. I have absolutely no idea what this was, other than the fact that it was attractive. In view of the fact that I had limited time in this area - I'd left Anne nusing a coffee in the restaurant and promised I'd be back within an hour - I didn't even realise that it was in seed, not in flower until I looked at the photos!

[Peter Maguire]

More plants from this (fairly stable) scree.

10. Now this is Linaria alpina as I have seen it previously, with yellow markings on the petals.
11. So is this a variation on the same theme, or something different?
12. Another unknown. In my dash around the moraine, frantically photographing plants, I wondered  whether this might be an Androsace, mainly because of the yellow centres to the flowers. On looking at the photograph, I'm starting to think it may be a saxifrage, but I don't know which. Now that's a terrible admission to make!
13. Cerastiums can be very similar at first glance, but I'm fairly sure that this is Cerastium pedunculatum
14. Geum reptans, the best looking specimen I found, but it's obviously showing the effects of the weather.

[Peter Maguire]

Still on the moraine, here's one for Cliff.

15. Ranunculus glacialis, probably about three weeks past it's best, and the autofocus locked on to the foliage. Reviewing the photos, I should have grabbed the seed that was forming, it looks to be nearly ripe...
16. Another Saxifraga moschata. Not the most spectacular saxifrage, but there really were extensive shhets of it.
17. Back down in the meadows around Hintertux, with the clouds still lowering, we came across a lot of this; a rather pretty pink Phyteuma (?). I've seen it before in France and Germany, and have a feeling that it may not be Phyteuma sp. I'm sure I've identified it before, but can't remember what I reckoned it was.

[Heather Smith]

Hi Peter,
It's me again. I'm really enjoying your photos; can't get enough of them!

No 17 is not a Phyteuma. I think it is a Plantain - possibly Plantago media. If the leaves are roundish and all basal it probably is.

[Peter Maguire]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions Heather, I was sure it was a Plantago until I started looking at the books - never a good idea - and conviced myself that the flower shape waasn't right for Plantago. I'll go back to the books and try and pin down the species. I definitely had it identified a few years ago, but the memory isn't what it used to be!

A final few pictures.

18. One of the pleasures of the summer in Austria and Switzerland in the summer is the window box displays on the houses. There was a nice purple/lilac petunia themed one I saw from a bus, which makes a change form the usual red geraniums, but this was fairly representative of the displays in Hintertux.

On our last day we decided on quick cable car trip whilst waiting for our transport back to the airport - it was cooler at 2000m at the Ahornhutte.

19. This was an attempt to photograph Campanula rotunidfolia in its alpine setting. Too many clouds to make a good photo this time, but as I was looking through the viewfinder of the camera...
'Flowers in focus - check'
'Out of focus walkers in background to give sense of scale - check'
'Small furry animal ruunning across path - check.....What!'
Ok it's a bit of a blurred photo of a stoat, and the photo of the Campanula is awful, but I thought I'd show it for bit of fun.

20. We had to pay for this cable car ride as our pass had run out, but the white Campanula barbata I found made it all worthwhile.

As Bugs Bunny used to say ' Th - Th- That's all folks!'

Peter

[ranunculus]

Thanks Peter,
Really enjoyed your images.

[Peter Maguire]

Would have better if the R. glacialis had been in flower 

You're showing some fine photographs yourself Cliff. You should be entering the AGS competitions at the shows, we could always do with some more competition.

[Maggi Young]

we could always do with some more competition.

So says, Peter, of the AGS comps... well, same goes for the SRGC photographic competitions... see the Show schedules for details!

[ranunculus]

Thanks Peter,
I retain a slightly bitter taste in my mouth regarding the artistic section (of the AGS only)....
I entered quite a number of classes at a 'to remain nameless' show where my multiple entries were, in my opinion (of course), very poorly treated. This was at the very beginning of digital imagery and my 'home printed' digital pictures were totally dismissed by the 'photographic' judge even though they were (in my still very humble opinion) at least the equal of anything else displayed. This was further compounded by the fact that my two entries in the pen and ink drawing classes were then dismissed as 'photocopies' and not even judged...a fact I discovered only AFTER the show had closed when I was removing my entries...they didn't EVEN have the decency to denote them as 'Not as schedule'. These drawings had taken many hours to complete and a simple query to the exhibitor would have resulted in a wet finger being dragged right across each of the images in front of the judge.  This may sound like VERY sour grapes from a poor loser, but I can assure you that I pride myself on being an exhibitor of alpine plants who ALWAYS accepts the opinion of the judges as gospel and would far rather never exhibit again than query a decision after the event.
Of course, there is still the SRGC photo competition......
...And I do remain totally committed to the AGS...I am, after all, an AGS Local Group Secretary and have been for twenty one years (man and boy)!

[ranunculus]

As an aside....
Further to the incident recounted above, the schedules for the artistic section of the AGS were amended the following year to include parity for digital images AND the banning of 'photocopies' in the pen and ink section.  My claim to fame....and it STILL hurts.

May I also state that I did not follow this up with any form of complaint to the powers that be....as I have clearly demonstrated since:- I would 'far rather never exhibit again than query a decision after the event'.

[Peter Maguire]

Cliff,

I 've learnt to take the rough with the smooth. Several years ago when I first started exhibiting at AGS shows and was in section B, I entered a picture of Sorbus frutcicosus in fruit with autumn colour as 'one alpine plant in cultivation'. In a class of three entries (section B, mind) they awarded a second and third, no first as they possibly felt that the Sorbus photo was better (dammit, it was!). The Sorbus was marked 'not according to schedule - too large for all but the largest rock garden'
This of course was not the way the schedule was written, they wanted an ALPINE plant and not a plant for the rock garden, and Sorbus fructicosus, coming from fairly high in the Himalaya was certainly more alpine than what I believe was a crocus in second place. I said nothing, but had the last laugh when the Sorbus photo was entered in the equivalent class at the 2001 conference. It came first of about fifty entries...one up to me I feel.

I've had a similar problem this year with a three photo entry of Cypripediums - they occasionally did well, but as I had photographed them against a black velvet background, I did occasionally get feedback that 'they must have been digitally altered to remove the background' and that they were marked down accordingly. The other problem was that I grow my Cypripediums in black pots, which weren't always visible against the black velvet. Consequently they were marked NAS as they did not 'show the whole plant'. You could only have seen more if I had tipped them out of the pot to show the root system as well!

I have to say that in spite of this, I still persevere with the photo competitions and plan to hopefully enter some digital paintings this year, just to be b****y-minded. Of course the judging of the plants can be equally idiosyncratic.....

Many apologies for not mentioning the SRGC photo competitions, we never have any trouble with the judging there.

Maggi, I'm planning to bring prints up to the SRGC weekend for the holiday photos competition and see if I can give Henry a run for his money.

Peter

[Peter Maguire]

Cliff,

As an aside to your aside, digital images were always eligible for the AGS classes, provided that over digitial manipulation was not evident, but it was not clear from the schedule. A group of us, led by Jon Evans, who exhibit regularly petitioned to get the schedules updated so that they were dragged out of the dark ages. The recent changes were a result of that consultation, although the boundaries are further blurred by the fact that some exhibitors, me included, get digital photographs processed by a 'wet chemical' method.

I must say that I hadn't noticed the point about photocopies of black and white drawings being ineligible. This prevents people from competing in all the shows, and probably the Irish shows are the losers from this.

Peter

[ranunculus]

Hi Peter,
How does one continually add an aside to an aside to yet another aside without looking remarkably foolish?
The point that I was trying to emphasise was that my drawings entered in that show were NOT photocopies, (I wouldn't have considered entering any show with such a print), but the original pieces of artwork and nobody saw fit to check....an incorrect assumption was simply made and acted upon.
Re: the digital images...there was NO digital manipulation whatsoever made to any of my images...the quality of (or the price paid for) the printing was the only criteria for possible discrimination.....anyway, all water under the bridge now....back to the real enjoyment of looking at photographs on this superb forum and not having to judge one against the other.
I do understand the problems that all judges face (having judged local and other group's shows), they all do a wonderful job and we couldn't have any such events without their very worthy efforts and decisions.
I admire your b****y-mindedness.

[Carlo]

Hi Cliff,

The BEAUTY is...no one will find your asides--they're buried deep in the Zillertal Alps.

No need to feel silly...

[ranunculus]

Lovely imagery Carlo....asides like icemen buried away for all time....