Rock Garden Gardening Part II - Begonia

This is part II of my Reader Rock Garden excursion in Calgary, Alberta. I was amazed at the number of different begonias.

Rock Garden Gardening Part I - Begonia

I am fortunate to live in a city that has many beautiful and serene locations to spend a day in. Today I spent the afternoon in Reader Rock Garden located in Calgary, Alberta. To me it is a hidden gem because having lived in Calgary for nearly 15 years, I was unaware of this garden. I was amazed at the tremendous photo opportunities in this garden. I took over 300 photos, many of which will never make this blog. However, I do plan on posting many of them over the course of the next several days. I hope I have captured the essence of this garden through my photographs.

Lilies in mid-September

Today was an outstanding day in Calgary in terms of the weather. I could not help but capture the beauty of my lilies in mid-September.

Flower Garden Photo's

Parts of my garden. It is really hard to capture the essence of a garden in a photo. However, I have attempted by snapping the photo's below. What you see is only a part of it.

 

Delphinium Perspectives

This photo demonstrates that we can look into the heart of a flower. This is my attempt to view the heart of the delphinium.

Liatris punctata – dotted blazing star

While visiting my parents this summer, I noticed this beautiful flower in my mom's garden. She did not know where it came from nor did she know what it was but she also liked the flower and the color that she let it grow. Thanks to Plant ID Quiz (Twitter) who identified this plant for me I can now post the photographs here.

The Liatris is a herbaceous perennial plant native to North America and in Canada can be found in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It  grows in dry conditions in full sun, but will handle moist conditions. The seeds are collected in the fall and 12 to 14 weeks before spring planting, are placed in a resealable bag of moist soil placed in the refrigerator.

Mom is sending me some seeds so that I can enjoy these in my garden next year

Geranium and Aster Photography

There is something about taking photographs of flowers on black or on white surfaces that I like. It has the advantage of providing huge color contrast. If you recall in one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that I really like my white asters but that I regretted planting them alongside a white fence. I decided to photograph an aster on a black surface. The petals of a geranium happened to be sitting nearby so trying to be creative I took these photographs. I hope you like them as much as I do.

September delphinium

Again, late in the growing season, these delphinium's continue to do well. Perennial, we must wait and see if they will endure the Calgary winter. I expect they will.

Salvia in September

These photographs are of the Salvia that I have in my garden taken in September. Outstanding performer and I plan on planting Salvia next year. This annual has definitely made its presence known the entire growing season blooming from early July until now but spreading and filling in the spaces throughout the season.

Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains Part 4

Native Plants of the Rockies part 3

Kananaskis (K-Country) Native Plants 2

Kananaskis (K-Country) Native Plants

I spent the day hiking in Kananaskis Country, located about 45 minutes west of Calgary, Alberta. Because of the demand for native plants that I have received, I made this the focus of my hike. My photos are shared in 4 posts, this being the first of 4.