The Monday After

Hi everyone! I'm back from my vacation. The main goal of our vacation was to visit Glacier and Waterton parks, relax, see the sights, do some hikes, and spend time together. Along the way I was able to take a few photos.

On the way to Glacier, we visited the Little Bighorn National monument, Bozeman Montana, and Flathead lake. On the trip back home, we spent a day touring some of the highlights of Yellowstone and made a brief stop at the Tetons National Park.

I've not had a chance to process any of the photos that I took during this trip. So, for today's post, I present this macro of a South African succulent seen at a botanical garden earlier this year.

Check back here for photos from our trip over the next week or so.

Be sure to visit Macro Mondays.

Unknown Beauty

This is some sort of succulent growing at the 12,095ft (3686m) along the continental divide near Independence Pass. State highway 82 traverse the pass and is the second highest paved road in Colorado. The road is open only during the summer, from late May until the first heavy snow storm in fall.

It's a great place to see a variety of alpine plants and animals. When I visited there last month, the wild flowers were at their peak.

If anyone knows the name of this plant, please let me know!

Be sure to visit My World Tuesdays!

Pollinators

I'm sure many of you have heard that the North American population of Honey Bees are in decline. These honey bees are not native to North America, but rather, were introduced by European colonist in the 1600s. Besides producing honey, the honey bee is also important as a pollinator for many food crops. I have heard that that the loss of the honey bee bodes ill for food production in North America.

However, there are also over 3500 species of native bees (also known as pollen or solitary bees). These bees don't produce collectible amounts of honey but are extremely important pollinators.

I believe that is photo is of a honey bee, but I'm not positive.

For futher reading, take a look at Alternative Pollinators. Included in this site are some strategies to attract these species to your garden (don't worry, native bees are said to be less aggressive than honey bees)



Be sure to visit Macro Mondays for more macro photos.

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit

This macro shot is of some sort of Thistle growing in my backyard. This as always been one of my favorite flowers.

As you may know, the thistle is the national emblem of Scotland (at least, the scottish thistle is). The story goes that invading Vikings, while sneaking upon some outpost, stepped barefoot on some thistle, cried out in pain, and alerted the defenders.

I don't know if this thistle in Colorado is the same type of thistle found in Scotland, but it amuses me to imagine Vikings sneaking around my backyard. Of course, I've not a clue why a Football team from Minnesota would do that...

This was my first entry into Macro Mondays (be sure to visit).

Elephant Heads

As mentioned in the Lemonade post, we saw a lot of dead and dying trees in the Steamboat Springs area. As a counter point, this picture was taken in the same general area and time as the photos of the stricken trees.

This is flower is know as the 'Elephant's Head Lousewort' (Pedicularis groenlandica). Or, just simply 'elephant's head'. It's a common sight in the mountain wetlands and near streams of the Western United States.

According to Utah Weeds and Wildflowers, Louseworts are named such "because it was once believed that animals eating them would become infested with lice". People can believe the funniest things...

Don't forget to visit Purple Photo Passion.