Beautiful plants in the Dolomites

# 3.  An "owl tree" made by a rifugio owner with a sense of humor
#1.  Soldanella alpina
Other unidentified pictures were Erica carnea and Polygala chamaebuxus

Anne, I'm sure I'm not the only person not at all concerned about whether your posting are in any logical order.... I'm just pleased to be able to enjoy them!

Every flower on that pulsatilla has 7-8 petals!

Beautiful pics, Ann, all of them.

P.S. How would we tell if they are "illogically ordered" anyway?  The photos are a treat no matter what!

[quote author=RickR link=topic=370.msg3533#msg3533 date=1280709958]
Every flower on that pulsatilla has 7-8 petals!

Beautiful pics, Ann, all of them.

P.S. How would we tell if they are "illogically ordered" anyway?  The photos are a treat no matter what!
[/quote  Rick, I planned to put them on according to location  and the day's hike - but you're right, no one else would know that.  Glad you enjoyed the first batch.

It's lovely to see the different plants, and some that are familiar - hope there are more installments to come!  Did you do the trip as a tour, or were the hiking parts self-directed, so to speak?

More coming, Lori.  No tour, we are definitely self-directed.  We have been going for years and some of the plants are like old friends.  The owner of our hotel is an accomplished photographer and interested in plants.  Whenever I haven't been able to find a particular plant he has always been able to give trail ideas. 

Beautiful images, Anne! 
Having hiked with Anne and Joe in the Dolomites last year we can confirm that they are seasoned (and very fit) travelers to these magnificent mountains. We enjoyed some quality high alpine time with them in 2009 and hope to repeat the experience in future years. In fact we only missed them this year by a few days and (if permitted - when Anne has finished her entire posting), I will add images taken during the subsequent two weeks featuring, I suspect, an entirely different range of plants and scenery.
We have been leading wildflower walks in these incredible peaks for at least eight of the past eleven years and it is wonderful to see such quality images of some of our favorite plants - just wait until you glimpse Ranunculus seguieri!!!  ;D ;D

Hi Cliff.  Sorry we didn't overlap this year because we enjoyed our alpine day with you and Sue so much last year. Great to be with people who understand that even a thread of a trail must be followed if there's a great plant at the end of it.  Not to mention that since that day Joe has become more understanding about the need to take many, many pictures of the same plant!!  Can't wait to see what you saw the two weeks following our stay.

An ordinary day in the Dolomites (meaning great plants and great vistas).

Part 2 - Same day.

Anne, thanks for supplying so many OMG-moments; seeing fine photos of spectacular plants that take one's breath away, like Thlaspi rotundifolia, Saxifraga caesia, and Soldanella minima.  Your photos are of high quality, may I ask what camera do you use? 

Just four images from me to introduce you all to the glorious situation of Corvara - the town in the Dolomites that attracts both Anne and I to return to these beautiful mountains year after year. The formidable massif of Sassongher dominates the town and provides a spectacular backdrop to every activity.

McDonough wrote:

Anne, thanks for supplying so many OMG-moments; seeing fine photos of spectacular plants that take one's breath away, like Thlaspi rotundifolia, Saxifraga caesia, and Soldanella minima.  Your photos are of high quality, may I ask what camera do you use? 

/Hi Mark, we use a Sony Cyber Shot, DSC H10 with a 10X Zoom.  I can use it with no problem which means that it's really user-friendly.  Alan Bradshaw of Alplains Seed Catalog told me about it when I admired his photos.  We've really liked it a lot. Joe takes better pictures (more patience).  Incidentally, many thanks for the compliment which I'll share with Joe who takes 90% of the pictures.

Booker wrote:

Just four images from me to introduce you all to the glorious situation of Corvara - the town in the Dolomites that attracts both Anne and I to return to these beautiful mountains year after year. The formidable massif of Sassongher dominates the town and provides a spectacular backdrop to every activity.

Beautiful shots, Cliff.  It makes me homesick for Corvara.

I have thought for several years that I ought to go to the Dolomites. Now I know for certain!
Thanks, Anne (and Cliff).

Another day and another hike.  The plants seen this day included Ranunculus seguieri as we had never seen it before.  The flowers were perfect, the wind hadn't had a chance to make them ragged and it was difficult to find a plant that didn't have pollinators busy at work.  Oh yes, the rest of the plants were also sensational! Last photo is R. seguieri taken on the way up with the best yet to come.

Part 2 of a sensational day.  The Ranunculus seguieri (last picture in previous post) was so beautiful and so pristine.  Often you see ragged flowers thanks to it usually liking exposed positions with wind.

And Part 3 of a great plant day!

"Pristine" certainly is the word for Ranunculus seguieri - breathtaking!  Very beautiful plants and photos; the soldanella and pulsatilla are particularly outstanding.  So interesting to see, also, a plant that will not stop traffic but is fascinating in it's own right - the Minuartia.  What a lovely Hutchinsia alpina, growing in habitat (such a contrast to the sorry ones in my yard.  Oy!)

Your last photo - the view - is absolutely magnificent.  What range of elevation gains do these hikes involve?  I'm curious also about how many people would you see in a day on the same trails?  Roughly only... a few, many tens, more?

This last trail is a very popular one because there's a cable car to the top from the Pass.  We always see people walking down and have some company also on the way up. Later today I'll post pictures of a favorite trail where we see very few if any people.  I'm not sure of the elevation gain - it's a long, steady "up".  You don't really notice the climb that much since there's so much to see along the way.  The pictures posted are highlights, the tip of the iceberg.

Another day - a favorite hike - great plants, not another soul on the trail.  Part 1 of the trail ends at a rifugio where the food is so good it was featured in the past year in an article in the NYTimes Travel section.  Beyond that is a hike to another top where we sometimes will go for dessert.  The trail is all rock and all "up" so you can figure you earned the dessert by the time you get there.  Plants are great, the following are highlights.

More of the same hike.  Remember that the season is quite early because of late snow

Last part of the great day. The rifugio, (the thought of lunch there had spurred me on the last hour), was closed for remodeling, probably thanks to the article in the NYTimes. There was still snow on the trail to the dessert rifugio so we didn't go up.  The food part of the day wasn't too great!

Super images once again, Anne.

Just to clarify - image 481 is of the beautiful Rhodothamnus chamaecistus.

Thanks, Cliff. I've been having a few glitches posting. Getting the name on the picture is sometimes beyond me.

And finally, the perfect end to a perfect (although very hungry) day.  I was forced to eat some chocolate I just happened to find in my backpack. Far superior to the whiskey traditionally carried by the St. Bernard on his rescue mission!

"Beautiful plants in the Dolomites" is right, Anne, and you have  beautifully showed them and a beautiful landscape too! If you can't be there yourself, this is the best way.

A nice relaxing day high up in alpine meadows.  Note the red lines in the banner petals of Lotus alpinus, an easy identifier.  The Homogyne alpina is shown in flower but it's the leaves which are so marvelous: roundish, shiny, bright green with red/purple underneath and the edge of the leaf is quite hard to the touch.  For those who are up on their James Bond, it's like Odd-Job's hat. 

Sorry, pictures #7 and #8 are Sax. paniculata and Daphne striata.  I thought I named everything when resizing the pictures but apparently the computer didn't agree.

Favorites  on a favorite trail

Sorry, last three pictures are Pulsatilla vernalis.  More pictures later today.

Beautiful!  Sounds idyllic... beautiful scenery, exquisite flowers, and a little exercise between scrumptious meals!  :)

The food is so wonderful at our hotel that you have to walk every day, not that that's a hardship with plants like these.
More plants on our favorite (among others) trail.

And some more.......

And some orchids on the trail back to the car.  A nice way to end the day.

You are magically transporting me back to Della Creste, Anne ... and it's 3am here in Lancashire, wide awake with heartburn and an attack of 'homesickness' for the Dolomites.  Super images - my compliments to Joe.

Another day in the high meadows.  The Italians do a wonderful job with the trails and they are very conscious of erosion and other problems. Cattle are grazed in high meadows so there is a ready supply of manure.  In this spot a large bare spot had obviously developed and a thick covering of manure and straw was used.  It's an area where we frequently find small clumps of Ranunculus seguieri in small bare spots.  This year we found sensational plants of R. seguieri and Oxytropis jacquinii growing where the area had been manured.  I called it "plants on steroids".  I've never seen such sensational bloom, but the plants themselves weren't larger - just better bloom.  So nature can be improved??? 

Booker wrote:

You are magically transporting me back to Della Creste, Anne ... and it's 3am here in Lancashire, wide awake with heartburn and an attack of 'homesickness' for the Dolomites.  Super images - my compliments to Joe.

/ Cliff, I know what you mean.  I feel the same way when I look at the pictures and wish I could be back in more than memory - especially since the heat and humidity continue here.

Sensational is right, Anne!  Especially like the variation of Rhodiola with the red accents.  I didn't know R. glacialis was more than just white.  Thanks again.

RickR wrote:

Sensational is right, Anne!  Especially like the variation of Rhodiola with the red accents.  I didn't know R. glacialis was more than just white.  Thanks again.

Take a look here, Rick!
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=360.0

Although some of the flowers are familiar many are not. And the settings are very unfamiliar!

More great stuff Anne, really like the orchid pics, particularly Nigritella.  I had to show my wife some of the stunning scenery photos, the shot of Rifugio is hard to believe!!! I'm aching to go there!

Couple questions on your pics, is photo #539 an Anaphalis?  And 543-Thlaspi, is this really an Erysimum?

My goodness, the compact alpine perfection of Ranunculus seguieri is amazing, certainly on par with the famed New Zealand Ranunculids.

539 looks like a Saussurea alpina. Here is an example from Norway.

McDonough wrote:

More great stuff Anne, really like the orchid pics, particularly Nigritella.  I had to show my wife some of the stunning scenery photos, the shot of Rifugio is hard to believe!!! I'm aching to go there!

Couple questions on your pics, is photo #539 an Anaphalis?  And 543-Thlaspi, is this really an Erysimum?

My goodness, the compact alpine perfection of Ranunculus seguieri is amazing, certainly on par with the famed New Zealand Ranunculids.

  Mark, the 539 is a Sausssurea, probably alpina.  The other is definitely not a Thlaspi and probably an Erysimum.  I'm not great at putting the names on the pictures, and I couldn't find my notes.

P.S. to Mark.  I've never seen Ranunculus seguieri as we saw it this year, which is another way of saying the mountains are never the same, my standard answer to people who are shocked we keep going back to the same place year after year.  I think Cliff would agree: it's always different.  I have to admit that lying down on 6" of straw and manure would not normally be my idea of fun but most of it was quite dry.  I just thought it would be good to show how some alpines  respond to fertilizer.  The flowering was really incredible (this is usually a plant of limestone screes), but the plants maintained their compactness.
More pictures later and then I hope that Cliff will weigh in with pictures of what everything looked like the two weeks after we left.

RickR wrote:

Sensational is right, Anne!  Especially like the variation of Rhodiola with the red accents.  I didn't know R. glacialis was more than just white.  Thanks again.

Rick, I'm so glad that you mentioned the Rhodiola.  I think they're quite fancy and they seem to be stepchildren among the alpines.  We have some in the Rockies which are gorgeous.

Odds and ends - pictures of plants seen on various days that I don't think are duplicates of plants already shown.  On any given day we would see gentians and other wonderful plants but it's possible you might get bored seeing them in each post.  I never get bored seeing them in person!

Wow, I love the Potentilla nitida and the Oxytropis, especially.  I started the former from seed this year - would that it could ever reach the glory of those in your photos!

Skulski wrote:

Wow, I love the Potentilla nitida and the Oxytropis, especially.  I started the former from seed this year - would that it could ever reach the glory of those in your photos!

Lori, I haven't had much luck with Potentilla nitida (three blooms after three years in the garden and then it died from exhaustion), but that may have had a lot to do with the fact that this is a very dry garden.  Oxytropis jacquinii, on the other hand, blooms beautifully in the garden and maintains its alpine stature at 250' above sealevel.  The foliage remains excellent, no mold or mildew despite terrible humidity, and it is very floriferous.  It lasted 6 years before dying during this terrible weather year.

Sorry Anne, but would you please check your last image ... the foliage is much more R. seguieri than R.alpestris from this perspective?

MMcD edit: photo renamed to Ranunculus seguieri.  :)

Booker wrote:

Sorry Anne, but would you please check your last image ... the foliage is much more R. seguieri than R.alpestris from this perspective?

Just checked the picture, Cliff, and of course you're absolutely right.  I just changed the name tag.  That picture is R. seguieri.  Attached is the real Ranunculus alpestris, which was hiding in the computer.  Please start showing your pictures.  I really want to see what things looked like in the next two weeks since we saw mostly the earliest things.

Can my eyes get sick from "eating" so much candy?  Maybe I'd better stop...

Well that's just silly, and it's impossible for me to stop anyway!

Trond, somehow I missed that thread of yours.  Thanks.

Absolutely the last post - time for Cliff to get started!  We always head to bare spots in a meadow (used to do this in Colorado too), because they are usually colonized by a few plants not growing elsewhere in the meadows.  The "soil" here is amazing.  It looks like a very fine clay that forms a crust and then cracks.  The surface is so hard a hiking stick doesn't penetrate.  It's like cement.  When wet, it accumulates on your boots until you feel three inches taller and twenty pounds heavier.  But it can apparently be hospitable to certain plants.  This patch in the photos had only a few species and prominent among them were Ranunculus seguieri and Oxytropis jacquinii.

Skulski wrote:

Wow, I love the Potentilla nitida and the Oxytropis, especially.  I started the former from seed this year - would that it could ever reach the glory of those in your photos!

The Potentilla is one of my favourite plants in our raised beds and these photos of it "doing its thing" to such glorious effect in the wild is a real joy.
I wish you happiness with your seedlings, Lori, which I am sure you will enjoy.... because these pplants can be longlived.

I  would advise you, when planting out in  a permanent position, to put them somewhere where they can have a VERY DEEP root-run. They have a long taproot that can easily go down three feet and more in my garden!
m

That is very helpful to know, and very encouraging, Maggi - thanks!

Anne has invited me to post some images from our recent 'tour of duty' in Corvara in the Dolomites, which began shortly after her own two week visit came to an end.  I will begin by posting some general scenes from this incredible part of Northern Italy and will continue (as time and tide allow) with plant portraits, views, wildlife and even a few 'arty' shots that I hope you will enjoy.

CENTAUREA SCENE
DISTANT PEAKS
CAMPANULA SCENE
FALZAREGO TRAIL
GERANIUM SCENE
NUVALAO TRAIL
ORCHID MEADOW
PEDICULARIS SCENE
PHYTEUMA SCENE
POTENTILLA NITIDA RUBRA

Absolutely breathtaking photos, Cliff - each is a perfect scene!  Thank you so much for playing tag-team with Anne to continue this wonderful thread!

Great shots, Cliff, as I knew they would be.  The picture of the Falzarego trail shows a large boulder in the right foreground.  It's exactly the type place where I found Androsace hausmanii this year.  The only other time I saw it was years ago in a similar bouder setting.  You can see all the crevices and that's apparently what it likes.  Please keep the images coming.

Thanks folks ... a few more this morning ...

ACONITUMS et al
ACROSS PORDOI PASS
CAMPANULA CLOSE-UP
CAMPANULA GLOMERATA SCENE
CAMPANULA MORETTIANA PALE FORM CLOSE-UP
CAMPANULA MORETTIANA VERY PALE FORM
CARLINA ACAULIS ssp. ACAULIS
CLIFFS AND SCREE
CLIFFS AT VALLUNGA
MISTS DESCENDING

Another selection ...

FLOWERING MATS
FOLIAGE SNAPSHOT
STAND OF GYMNADENIA
INCREDIBLE VIEW
LEONTOPODIUM ALPINUM EMERGING FROM CREVICE
LEONTOPODIUM SCENE - QUITE PLEASED WITH THIS ONE!
LILIUM BULBIFERUM
LILIUM BULBIFERUM CLOSE-UP
LILIUM MARTAGON
MAUSOLEUM SETTING

Cliff, the photos are spectacular, as are the views, almost surreal in their vastness is some cases.  In the photo of "flowering mats", what is the pink flowering plants that compose those mats?  And do I spy a bright pink allium or two in that view?

Booker wrote:

Another selection ...

STAND OF GYMNADENIA

LEONTOPODIUM SCENE - QUITE PLEASED WITH THIS ONE!

 STAND OF GYMNADENIA : what a fine strong clump of the glorious fragrant orchid, Gymnadenia conopsea ---- it is conopsea in the Dolomites, I presume... not some other?

LEONTOPODIUM SCENE - QUITE PLEASED WITH THIS ONE!
: too right.... what's not to be pleased about!??

Thanks folks ... Mark, the landscapes are magnificent and quite unlike any other mountains we have visited.  The pink cushions are mainly Gypsophila repens and the allium-like flowers are either Carduus defloratus ssp. defloratus or a dwarf Cirsium sp.
The only alliums we have seen in the Dolomites are Allium schoenoprasum ssp. alpinum; A. victorialis and A. insubricum (and then only twice in the case of A. insubricum).

ALLIUM SCHOENOPRASUM ssp. ALPINUM

IMYoung wrote:

Booker wrote:

Another selection ...

STAND OF GYMNADENIA

LEONTOPODIUM SCENE - QUITE PLEASED WITH THIS ONE!

 STAND OF GYMNADENIA : what a fine strong clump of the glorious fragrant orchid, Gymnadenia conopsea ---- it is conopsea in the Dolomites, I presume... not some other?

LEONTOPODIUM SCENE - QUITE PLEASED WITH THIS ONE!
: too right.... what's not to be pleased about!??

There are also Gymnadenia odoratissima in these mountains but these are, as you say, a shortish, but fine stand of G. conopsea.

I was 'quite pleased about that particular shot of the eidelweiss' because profile shots of very thin-stemmed blooms such as these  can be difficult to capture at the best of times but in this instance the wind was intermittently howling and the rock was surrounded by nettles, thistles and other foliar dissuasions. Still bearing the scars ... !!

Quote:

I was 'quite pleased about that particular shot of the eidelweiss' because profile shots of very thin-stemmed blooms such as these  can be difficult to capture at the best of times but in this instance the wind was intermittently howling and the rock was surrounded by nettles, thistles and other foliar dissuasions. Still bearing the scars ... !!

Often the case that one must suffer for the sake of art, Cliff!  ;)

Anne:

They are spectacular photos.  I can understand why you go back there every year.

I was interested to read that you are using a compact digital camera.  I am convinced that they are much better for alpine flower photography than DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras.  Apart from the lighter weight and ease of use they have a far superior depth of field because of the smaller image sensor. As a result more of the flower is in focus and it is often feasible to get the background in focus as well as the flower.  I am currently using a Sony DSC HX1.

Cliff, all your photos are worth making postcards of!

David wrote:

Anne:

They are spectacular photos.  I can understand why you go back there every year.

I was interested to read that you are using a compact digital camera.  I am convinced that they are much better for alpine flower photography than DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras.  Apart from the lighter weight and ease of use they have a far superior depth of field because of the smaller image sensor. As a result more of the flower is in focus and it is often feasible to get the background in focus as well as the flower.  I am currently using a Sony DSC HX1.

Hi David.  I know you've been in the Dolomites and can understand how beautiful everything is, more beautiful than the photos show.  Alan Bradshaw of Alplains Seeds was our houseguest once, and when I told him how much I admired his pictures, he showed me the camera he was using.  I wrote everything down and Joe and I made the camera our next purchase.  What a blessing it was to leave the old camera home with all its lenses etc.  It was quite heavy.  We don't normally use a tripod with this but we do carry a mini-tripod which is quite good when used for close-ups taken lying down.  Those are usually the ones I take, including the ones taken of Ranunculus seguirei in the manure field! Cliff Booker showed Joe how to get backgrounds in focus but I think the camera Cliff uses has more bells and whistles. 

Spiegel wrote:

David wrote:

Cliff Booker showed Joe how to get backgrounds in focus but I think the camera Cliff uses has more bells and whistles.  

More bells and whistles perhaps, Anne ... but still a tone deaf musically challenged operator!   :D

I insist that my best images were taken using a 3.4 megapixel Nikon 995 ... with a tiny image sensor and minute lens.

Anne:

We were back in the Strawberry Mountains in Oregon a few weeks ago revisiting some of the places we went together on the NARGS 2003 expedition.  It was on that trip that you "sold" us on visiting the Dolomites!

The flowers on Strawberry Mountain were a bit late this year and although we were there at about the same time as in 2003 we were too early to see the Epilobium obcordatum and Collomia debilis in flower.  But there were some nice Phlox and stunning Claytonia megarhiza.

David, I remember that trip.  Beautiful plants and an astragalus I could not identify, most frustrating.  And I do recall discussing the Dolomites with you, and later hearing that you went there.  Lovely pictures - were you too early for the Penstemon spatulatus?

Anne:

The Penstemon on Strawberry Mountain were not yet in flower.  We had a very cool wet June here in the Pacific Northwest which affected both snowmelt and flowering times.  Today we were in the North Cascades and some Anemone occidentalis were in flower where the snow had recently melted. I had never previously seen it in flower in August.

Anne those photos are UNREAL!  What a spectacular place!  My mind is still spinning over all the fantastic pictures of such choice alpines.