… is upon us. It's timing is a little off kilter this year. I would have expected to see more flowers blooming by now, yet at the same time some seem to be finishing already, a little early.
I've grown a little frustrated by my switch over to RAW from JPG, as it has added a lot of time for me to get photos from camera to blog. I'm quite happy with the results but my Model-T desktop isn't keeping up with the demands. I suspect I ask it to do too much at the same time. But enough whining, on to some flower pictures, and that is mostly what you'll get, very little narrative. All of these flowers shots were taken at First Bridge.
Arctic Dryad – one of my favourite flowers for its subtle beauty.
Another Arctic Dryad photo, this one shows how many of these flowers are already fading.
Arctic Poppy.
Arctic Poppy are predominately yellow. On rare occasions there are white ones. First Bridge has always been a reliable place for me to find the white Arctic Poppy (same species – just a colour variant). This is one of several that we found.
This gorgeous little flower is unknown to me, I've never seen before and so far have been unable to figure what it is. With the four petals I'm wondering if it belongs in the mustard family. It was found on gravel of the shoulder of the road. The other sprays of purple flowers we found were the waning Purple Saxifrage, Moss Campion not yet peaking, and the very beginning of River Beauty (Dwarf Fireweed). If anyone knows what this is though I'd appreciate knowing.
More Arctic Dryad, two takes on the same flowers.
And just in case you haven't had your RDA of cute yet today… Puppies!
Bonus points to whoever can find Leah and Hilary in one of these photos.

Comments
11 responses
Lovely pictures. The flowers of the Arctic are so wonderful – tiny, low to the ground but they do their thing in record time.
In the one with the yellow poppies!
They are lovely allmycke. Hard to believe we have so many.
Good try, but that’s a bit of a mcguffin. Those are actually Leah’s little sister’s feet (and I somehow chose the wrong image of the poppies with those in there). But no that’s not the picture with them in.
Hi Clare
I looked the purple one up in Barrenland Beauties, and I think it’s Pallas’ Wallflower (Erysimum pallassii), which is part of the mustard family indeed. Description is that it is often found near bird nesting areas, where the soil is rich in calcium and nitrogenous compounds. Biennial or short-lived perenniial, flowers only once in its lifetime, often grows in close association with arctic poppies. Apparently there is a similar species, Parrya arctica, which occurs on the arctic islands, but it’s not in my book.
Hi Clare – if you want to be fairly sure a flower is in the mustard family, check the stamens – mustards have two different lengths, 4 longer and 2 shorter, or is it 2 longer and 4 shorter? I forget, but it’s 4 of one length and 2 of the other. Great pictures!
My guess is the 2nd last one with the little flower. I think they’re on the ridge. (I have been sitting here for almost 10 minutes enlarging the pictures and checking. I’m soo competitive!!) LOL
Wonderful photos! I like the effects you are getting with the RAW footage.
Thanks Johanna. I think you’re right, it is probably one of those two species. I think I might have to wait until it goes to seed to figure out which.
Thanks Arcolaura. Hopefully the weather improves and I’ll get back out there this week to count stamens. I tried from the photos but can’t tell from them.
You are right Tina. They are on top of the ridge, Leah is the tallest “rock” silhouetted against the sky and Hilary is next to her.
Thank you John. I like the results also, but it has been a slow painful process to get to the point to put them online. I’ve also crashed the program three times when I try to do too many at once, and have to start over. New computer would help, but unfortunately that will not happen soon.
Woo hoo!!! Bonus points for me! 🙂
Oh! those flowers are so cute, I never knew about them before that’s why I’m glad that I saw this post. Thanks for sharing I enjoyed reading this post.
-fern-
Bonus points are on their way Tina.
Thank you fern. As your comment appears genuine fern, but links to a commercial site I’ve removed the link to the site, but not marked your comment as spam.