Mt Edwards (near Tekapo, New Zealand) vignettes...

Aciphylla aurea

 Thanks to Michael Midgley,whose fabulous rock garden I featured in an earlier blog, we had a chance to rise high onto the shoulder of Mt. Edwards, a peak hovering near Tekapo where he lives in the lake country nestled in west Canterbury, South Island New Zealand. I can't begin to express our amazement at how he maneuvered his 4-wheel drive on perhaps the most rugged road (with some of the steepest grades) one of us  at least (Jan Fahs) had ever experienced! These are just a few alphabetical glimpses of the wonders we saw: there were hundreds. Just the very first few flowers were blooming...it must be dazzling in December and January. Who knows, one day we may find out?

People have asked for some pix in the wild: here are the provisional few from our THIRD trip to the wild---more commentary will be added as I have time not to mention more pix on the others as well...

 Aciphylla aurea and the Southern Alps of New Zealand in November

Corallospartium (Carmichaelia) coralloides

Corallospartium (Carmichaelia) coralloides

Carmichaelia nana (ensyi)

Carmichaelia nana (ensyi)

Mats of silver Celmisia angustifolia

Chionoheba pulvinaris

Corokia cotoneaster

Corokia cotoneaster

Mats of Dracophyllum and bunchgrass (Chionochloa spp.)

Dracophyllum sp.

Gaultheria cuneata

Geranium sessiliflorum

Helichrysum intermedium and Aciphylla aurea

Hebe sp. (whipcord type)

Notothlaspi rosulatum

The Southern Alps of Canterbury, New Zealand

Ranunculus crithmifolius

Raoulia aff. australis

Raoulia eximia

Raoulia  eximia