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| ...in their native habitats...
Peter Loughheed Prov. Park, Alta. - a few days early for peak bloom up at the tarns. Path to the rockslide:   Potentilla gracilis (I think):  Anemone parviflora, Alpine anemone:  Erigeron pallens, Alpine Fleabane:   Hedysarum sulphurascens, Yellow Hedysarum:
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Beautiful shots, breathtaking views. Thanks for posting these, Lori. |
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- Posted by ABgardeneer Z3, Calgary (My Page) on Tue, Aug 2, 05 at 1:07
| My pleasure, Pudge! What a magical place - upon coming out of the forest, there's a huge rockslide (inhabited by pikas) that marks the beginning of the more alpine-ish plants. Then, continuing up, you cross various limestone boulder fields and ridges to eventually reach a series of meltwater tarns - with fascinating geometric edges and angles due to the dip of the strata! The area is drained by an incredibly beautiful stream (pictured), the banks of which are carpeted in spotted saxifrage, vine-leaved coltsfoot and senecio. (There's one point where a feeder to the stream emerges from the rocky slope, runs about 3m above ground, then disappears into a crevice again - the world's shortest stream!) A fascinating variety of plants (though, as I said, the bloom seems a bit later than last year, when we were up there on Aug. 3rd).... the alpine campion is pretty nifty! The whole plant is probably about 5 cm max, and the flowers (I thought these were seedheads but have since found out they're actually flowers) are about 1 cm. The willow that's pictured is also no more than about 5cm tall. It was a great hike - the kind of place you wish you could show to everyone you know! But I guess photos are the next best thing... (Believe it or not, I actually took 112 photos! Whew - you're lucky I'm not posting 'em all, LOL!) |
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| Well I think we'd probably love to see them all! So if we camp at Kananaskis next summer you'll tell me exactly which trail this is, right? I spent 8 years in Calgary, and unfortunately was not much of a gardener then except for some balcony plants. We did do a bit of hiking and a lot of skiing but I did not pay attention, nor had much interest back then (the great outdoors were the trees in Chinook Centre, LOL). Funny how things change. |
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| I'm still envious. Even more so now! |
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- Posted by rue_anemone 5 (My Page) on Tue, Aug 2, 05 at 17:03
| Sigh! I wish you would show more. |
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