Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: woody shrub

Will have to add descriptions, etc. later, as I have a dental appointment to get to. Later. Yesterday, 2 August 2019, was a day of a little bit of everything, which was fun. I only decided around noon to go for an afternoon drive west of the city. It was hot and there was a haze over the mountains. Both cameras took photos with rather blown out skies - because of the haze? My destination was Forgetmenot Pond, out past Bragg Creek. Forget-me-not is the name of a flower. This weekend is a long weekend for a Civic Holiday on Monday, so I thought there might be far fewer people yesterday, Thursday. A lot of people seemed to have the same idea as me! There was a good variety of wildflowers, some of which I will have to leave unidentified and post simply as "pretty pictures". So nice to find Prairie Gentians, which I haven't seen for a long time. A few others were Grass-of-Parnassus, Elephant's Head Lousewort, different Paintbrush, Alpine Bistort, and beautiful Yellow Mountain-avens. Love the small flowers of the latter and their beautifully twisted seedheads. The only birds I saw in the area were Barn Swallows who were nesting, and a calling Spotted Sandpiper, perched on a piece of driftwood the far side of the river. After walking around the lake, I started on my return drive. Before long, I decided to take a quick look in a forested area, to see if there were any mushrooms, but only found the ones seen in one of today's photos. While I was there, cows were the furthest thing from my mind. I guess they are let loose in that area of forest, so they do a good job of fertilizing everything. When I spotted the two mushrooms, I was excited and didn't realize that my left shoe ended up in something that felt very soft and a little slippery! Sigh! Maclean Pond was the only other place I stopped, just briefly, during my mountain drive, until I was closer to home. Thought I would drive along one of the roads that had given me a good variety of birds fairly recently. This time, absolutely nothing. I discovered that one road was blocked (maybe part of the major road construction going on for the Ring Road around the city?), Instead, I came back along a road I hadn't been along for quite a while - and what an amazing sight I saw. Way down the road, I could see some large brown animals on the road. My first thought was 'cows'. However, I pulled over and zoomed right in to check, discovering that they were Elk. Maybe two or three hundred of them - they just kept coming and when you thought they would be no more, another group appeared on the hillside. They were all constantly calling, which you can hear on the little bit of video I took. Will post another short, somewhat closer bit of video later. There were males, females and young ones. Fortunately, no other vehicles came along the road while I was there. An amazing thing to witness.

Macro shot taken on 1 July 2011, when I walked around and near Forgetmenot Pond, at the end of Elbow Falls Trail, Kananaskis. So pretty when seen up close. This is a native, woody shrub that forms a low-growing mat. Belongs to the Rose family, Rosaceae. www.flora.dempstercountry.org/0.Site.Folder/Species.Progr...

Not sure what is up with Flickr this morning. I couldn't use my usual uploader and clicking on something takes forever. Everything else on my computer seems to be working properly, but it is a reminder to myself that I HAVE to back up more of my photos and make some more free space on my hard drive. I'm down to 47 GB now, which is not a good thing : ) This is a macro shot of a very small flower, taken near Forgetmenot Pond, Elbow Falls Trail, Kananaskis, on July 1st. So pretty when seen up close. This is a native, woody shrub that forms a low-growing mat. Belongs to the Rose family, Rosaceae. www.flora.dempstercountry.org/0.Site.Folder/Species.Progr...

This is a macro shot of Bearberry, a common, native, woody groundcover shrub 5-30 cm high. The leaves are evergreen, remaining green for 1–3 years before falling. New stems can be red if the plant is in full sun, but are green in shadier areas. Older growth stems are brown. In spring, they have small white or pink flowers. The fruit is a red berry. Also known as Kinnikinnick and Pinemat manzanita. Photographed this one on the Marston Creek trail, on the southern edge of Kananaskis. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctostaphylos_uva-ursi

Peking Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster acutifolia) leaves turn such a wonderful, vibrant mix of colour in the fall. Photographed these at the Reader Rock Garden. This woody shrub was introduced from Asia and can be found everywhere, either individually or planted as a hedge. It readily escapes from gardens and can now be found in many of our natural areas, unfortunately. Beautiful to look at, but it is preventing our native plants from growing. This shrub should not be being sold at Garden Centres.

Peking Cotoneaster is a very invasive shrub, causing damage in all our parks. Unfortunately, the brilliant red leaves do look beautiful, especially here, where we don't have the amazing red Maple leaves which are seen out east. This particular shrub was growing at the Reader Rock Garden. "Introduced from Asia. A woody shrub, abundantly planted, individually or as a hedge, readily escaping into the wild. Stems, shrub, 1-3m tall. Leaves, alternate; small, oval, blunt pointed; turn brilliant red in autumn. Flowers, small, white; ........... Fruit, black berries, about 1cm across. Habitat: wooded areas, river banks, sunny slopes." From talkaboutwildlife.ca .