Not sure what these flowers are, but I was fascinated by the colour and the beautiful, curled petals. These are just two of several flowers in a cluster at the top of a very tall stem. This plant was growing at the Reader Rock Garden just over two weeks ago.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Reader Rock Garden nature botany plant flora garden flower flowers red petals curl curled bokeh diagonal image photograph digital vertical color image outdoors beauty beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ28 FZ28 Lumix point-and-shoot P1200144 FZ28 annkelliott Explore interestingness#439 explore2009August17

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This pretty Scabious flower was blooming at the Reader Rock Garden on 29th July. Gosh, most of my photos have been very dark recently, mainly because most of them have been taken deep within various forests. Hope they haven't been too depressing, LOL! Posting earlier today in the hopes that the sun will still be shining by the time I get myself ready to go mushroom hunting. My body hasn't recovered yet from all the walking I did on Saturday, so I'm not sure how many times I'll be able to get down on my hands and knees to photograph tiny fungi growing on the forest floor, but I'll give it a try at least : )

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Reader Rock Garden nature flora flower flowers plant garden botany petals mauve purple details macro close-up image photograph digital square square crop single flower flower head Scabious beauty beautiful beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ28 FZ28 Lumix point-and-shoot P1200157 FZ28 annkelliott beautiful_expression Explore interestingness#94 explore2009August18 NaturesFinest scabiosa

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Took this photo yesterday morning in a friend's garden before we drove over to Paskapoo Slopes for a few hours of walking. This garden is a sea of yellow at the moment, so I happily included some of it in my background.

Struggling to keep my eyes open this evening after a full day of botanizing in Bragg Creek Provincial Park. This time, we went south to the north side of Bragg Creek and took the West Bragg Creek Road. After crossing the Elbow River, we turned left and followed the winding road until it ended in the parking lot of Kananaskis Country. Our walk was mainly in the forest, plus a little bit of bog. Lots of exercise and sunshine - and excitement at things we saw. Totally wears me out, and I wish I could just collapse into bed right now ; ) My alarm was set for 4:55 a.m (after maybe an hour's sleep!). and I got home around 6:15 p.m. Three of us called in at the hamlet of Bragg Creek on the way home, where we enjoyed hot chocolate/coffee.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta friend's garden nature botany plant flora garden flower flowers yellow petals Sunflower macro close-up bokeh image photograph digital horizontal color image outdoors beauty beautiful beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ28 FZ28 Lumix P1230113 FZ28 annkelliott beautiful_expression Explore interestingness#117 explore2009August21

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Another vivid orange Lily at the Reader Rock Garden, taken at the end of July.

Another long day of botanizing today! So enjoyable, and we found a few new fungi. The trail we took today at the west end of Bragg Creek Provincial Park (over the bridge, so north of the river) didn't have as great a variety of fungi species as the nearby trail that we botanized two days ago, but it was still good. I think it took the five of us around six hours to cover about three kilometres, LOL! And now I can barely stay awake!

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Reader Rock Garden nature flora garden floral flower flowers Lily orange petals bokeh stamens single flower flower head close-up macro image photograph digital square square crop colorful colour image beauty beautiful beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ28 FZ28 Lumix point-and-shoot P1200036 FZ28 annkelliott beautiful_expression NaturesFinest Explore interestingness#196 explore2009August24

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I'm not sure of the proper, full name of this plant, but I think Centaurea is one of the names. I love the colour, and the patterns below the petals (bracts?). We saw this on a walk at Paskapoo Slopes in the city a few days ago. Part of the walk was down the hillside, through some kind of forested retreat, so there were garden plants near the top of the area, too. A lovely place to walk. Thanks, Doug, for the ID, Centauria macrocephala, 'Golden Globe' - much appreciated, as always!

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Paskapoo Slopes nature retreat garden flower flora flowers yellow Centauria macrocephala Golden Globe image photograph digital square square crop outdoors sunlight light macro close-up single flower flower head leaves petals beauty beautiful beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ28 FZ28 Lumix point-and-shoot P1230306 FZ28 annkelliott beautiful_expression NaturesFinest Explore interestingness#58 explore2009August25 FLOWERSadminFAVE

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