Botany Photo of the Day

I mentioned sacrifice in the Eurya japonica entry a couple of days ago. For today's photograph of 'Purple Cape' cauliflower, I had to step into the raised beds in the Food Garden. Thankfully, the smell from the manure applied to the beds wasn't as potent on Thursday as it was when freshly applied on Tuesday (the day I initially sought out the cauliflower for a photograph). I'm trying to recall when Tony Maniezzo (the horticulturist who is responsible for the Food Garden) originally suggested a photograph of this cauliflower. Was it Monday afternoon or was it after the application of manure on Tuesday...?

'Purple Cape' cauliflower is a heritage variety. The country of origin is apparently disputed (either South Africa or Italy), though it was first introduced to England circa 1808.

On the topic of heritage seeds and plants, this year's Seedy Saturday events are starting in communities across Canada (I see my old hometown is holding one tomorrow!). Seedy Saturday is a series of independent public events held for the purposes of swapping heritage seeds (thereby helping to preserve them) and learning about agricultural heritage and biodiversity conservation.

In BPotD news, I'm speaking about Botany Photo of the Day in two upcoming conferences. The first is this Saturday at Northern Voice (held here in Vancouver), where I'm part of a panel on Blogging in Education. The second conference requires a bit more travel: Museums and the Web 2006, being held in Albuquerque from March 22 to 25.

The reason that I mention the latter now is because I'm taking two weeks off on either side of the conference to travel through (and photograph for BPotD) Oregon, California, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, western Idaho and eastern Washington. I'm planning to leave a lot to fortune on the trip (esp. the weather since the itinerary will be tight); it already looks like I struck out with the desert wildflowers this year. As Phillip mentioned in the BPotD comments recently, there is a record dry spell in Arizona. Despite not having brilliant displays of colour or rain-induced rarities in some places, I'm sure there will be plenty of interesting plants and landscapes along the way. If you have suggestions for (accessible) sites to visit in any of those states, I'd be interested to hear from you. I'll be travelling by car (so no off-roading), but day hikes to exceptional sites are okay.

Photography resource link: For inspiration, Photographs of Lyme Regis, Devon and Dorset by Lois Wakeman – purposefully subtle, yet more compelling for being so.