Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Jim Coutts

Posted mainly for a splash of bright colour, which I'm needing at the moment : ) Our weather has calmed down after our two days of severe snowstorm a few days ago. Yesterday, 13 September 2014, I finally got out for a drive. I hadn't been out of the house for a few days and was beginning to get cabin fever. Driving down my street, I finally got a look at just how much tree damage the late summer snowstorm (actually two storms, on 9 and 10 September) had caused. My street is lined with huge piles of cut-down branches, waiting for the city's machines to come and remove them. My drive took me as far as Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, SW of the city, as I wanted to see how much snow was on the ground in the forest. From the muddy parking lot, I could see that the ground between the trees was covered with a lot of snow, hiding everything that might have been there, including wildflowers and mushrooms. It will take some time for all this sheltered snow cover to melt. I saw practically nothing during my drive, other than a Magpie, the Red-tailed Hawk that I'm posting today, horses and cows. Looks like we may have to wait till spring arrives next year before getting the chance to photograph much, if anything, other than snow photos. Many parks and natural areas are now closed because of the damage caused by the snowstorms. It's feeling rather like the situation last summer, when everywhere was closed for months because of the damage caused by the Alberta Flood of the Century. This Poppy photo was taken way back on 27 August 2010, during a visit to the wonderful homestead and gardens belonging to the late Jim Coutts, near Nanton, Alberta. I used to look forward so much to our occasional visit, especially seeing Jim's beautiful Poppy gardens. Interesting to note that Jim used to be the former principal secretary of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

I LOVE Poppies and Poppy seedpods! This photo was taken last weekend, during a visit south of Calgary to the wonderful homestead near Nanton, belonging to Jim Coutts. He is gradually returning his land to it's original prairie grassland, but he has stunning gardens surrounding his home. Poppies add brilliant red and orange to these areas and I was happy to take endless photos, so that I could enjoy the colours any time I want.

These Poppies have puzzled me for a long time, as the seedpods have these growths around them. Does anyone happen to know what kind of Poppy this is? There was just one small patch of them, and they were much taller than the other kinds of Poppy. Taken when a group of us was lucky enough to visit the wonderful homestead gardens belonging to Jim Coutts, just NE of Nanton, south of Calgary. I absolutely love Jim's Poppy garden. Photographed on 27 August 2010. These seed pods look as good in the garden as they do in floral arrangements. The larger center pod is surrounded by chicks, or smaller pods, that develop around the larger pod. The seeds inside of these pods are edible. This plant is illegal to grow in some states because opium can be derived from this particular species. Later: I think these are called Hens & Chicks Poppies. Read more: Tips on Growing Hens & Chicks Poppies | eHow.com www.ehow.com/info_8367387_tips-growing-hens-chicks-poppie...

Each year, a group of us goes south of Calgary to visit Jim Coutts' wonderful homestead and amazing gardens, north east of Nanton. On August 27th this year, as soon as we arrived, I headed straight for Jim's Poppy garden. I am in seventh heaven there. Just another of the photos I took there, hoping to add a shot of warm colour into the lives of anyone who is living in a cold, white world right now : )

But not MY garden path, LOL! This is just one tiny area of Jim Coutts' amazing homestead garden, near Nanton, southern Alberta, visited last August. Jim is trying to convert this land back to natural prairie and he grows small plugs of many plants and grasses to use for this enormous task. My favourite part of his gardens is the Poppy area - I'm in seventh heaven when I am there : )

I've always loved cow skulls, and this one was hanging on a shed (?) on Jim Coutts' homestead, south of the city, near Nanton.

This is a reminder of a most enjoyable day on a homestead south of the city, near Nanton. It belongs to Jim Coutts, and he has wonderful gardens around his home. The areas of Poppies are always my favourite.

Just had to dig a little way into my archives to find something bright for today. These poppies were growing in the amazingly beautiful gardens around Jim Coutts' homestead, south of the city, near Nanton. It is a dull, overcast, cold, messy and miserable day today, after a night of snow. I very rarely miss my walks, but today I simply chickened out, LOL. The low light would have meant no photos worth keeping, so I stayed home in the warm and thoroughly enjoyed a mug of hot, steaming cappucino (from a packet). Hope this cheers up anyone else who has been going through a similar day : ). May the sun shine brightly tomorrow ....

Yesterday, a group of us went south of Calgary to near Nanton, to visit the old homestead belonging to Jim Coutts. He is trying to convert his land back to its original, natural grassland, almost literally one little grass "plug" at a time. He has the most amazing garden, including brilliantly coloured flowersbeds and an area that grows a lot of different native grasses. This is Jim's cat, who came over to check us out and that's my reflection in his/her eyes : ). I didn't notice the brown, wiggly line pattern around the eyes until I downloaded my photos to my computer. I wonder if lots of cats have this pattern or maybe just this individual.

Yesterday, a group of us went south of Calgary to near Nanton, to visit the old homestead belonging to Jim Coutts. He is trying to convert his land back to its original, natural grassland, almost literally one little grass "plug" at a time. He has the most amazing garden, including brilliantly coloured flowersbeds and an area that grows a lot of different native grasses. This is just one tiny area of his garden, looking out towards the distant Rocky Mountains. I LOVE Poppies, so I was in seventh heaven!

Yesterday, a group of us went south of Calgary to near Nanton, to visit the old homestead belonging to Jim Coutts. He is trying to convert his land back to its original, natural grassland, almost literally one little grass "plug" at a time. He has the most amazing garden, including brilliantly coloured flowersbeds and an area that grows a lot of different native grasses. This one flower caught my attention, contrasting beautifully with the background colour.