DESKTOP 3332 - NEW GROWTH

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3316 - WAITING...

For Spring!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3311 - SUNSET

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DESKTOP 3295 - MOON

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3287 - ALMOND BLOSSOM

Almond blossom: Harbinger of Spring!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 3286 - STIRRINGS OF SPRING

Stirrings of Spring are making themselves felt in the Southern Hemisphere. We have been enjoying a few sunny, fine days in wintry Melbourne with the sun making us cast off a few layers of clothes. Perfect weather for a walk, during which one discovers that nature has awakened from its Winter slumber.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3280 - GOLDEN WATTLE

Acacia pycnantha, Golden Wattle, is a shrub or small tree about 4 to 8 metres tall. The specific name pycnantha from the Greek 'pyknos', meaning 'dense', and 'anthos', meaning 'a flower', refers to the dense clusters of flowers. In late winter/early spring large fluffy golden-yellow flower-heads with up to eighty tiny sweetly scented flowers provide a vivid contrast with the foliage.

 

Golden Wattle occurs in the understorey of open forest or woodland and in open scrub formations in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, in temperate regions with mean annual rainfall of 350 mm to 1000 mm. It regenerates freely after fires, which usually kill the parent plants but stimulate the germination of seeds stored in the soil if rain follows soon after.

 

The brilliant yellow, fragrant flowers of Golden Wattle make it a popular garden plant. It is moderately frost tolerant and grows well in a wide range of soils provided drainage is effective, but tends to be short-lived in cultivation. It is easily propagated from seed soaked in hot water to break the hard seed coat, and the seedlings can be transplanted to pots of soil mix for growing on before planting out in a lightly shaded or open position.

 

The adoption of the Golden Wattle as the Australian national flower tends to be confirmed by its introduction into the design of the Australian armorial bearings on the recommendation of the Rt Hon. Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister of Australia, when the Commonwealth Armorial Ensigns and Supporters were granted by Royal Warrant on 19 September 1912. Acacia pycnantha enjoyed popular acceptance as Australia's national flower for much of this century but it was not proclaimed as the national floral emblem until 1988, the year of Australia's bicentenary.

 

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 3185 - ASLEEP

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3163 - CASUARINA FLOWERS

More information on casuarinas here.

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DESKTOP 3156 - DAISY

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." - Desmond Tutu

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 3131 - WAR

"The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own." - Aldous Huxley 

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3120 - BARK

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3118 - ROCK, PLANT, WOOD

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3066 - NSW CHRISTMAS BUSH

Ceratopetalum gummiferum, the New South Wales Christmas Bush, is a tall shrub or small tree popular in cultivation due to its sepals that turn bright red-pink at around Christmas time. The petals are actually small and white - it is the sepals that enlarge to about 12mm after the flower sets fruit and starts to dry out.

The specific name gummiferum alludes to the large amounts of gum that is discharged from cut bark. Plants initially grow as rounded shrubs but mature to pyramidical trees. The leaves comprise three leaflets and are up to 8 cm long. The petioles are grooved on the upper side and are 10 to 20 mm long. Small, white five-petalled flowers appear in spays from October in the species native range. As these die the sepals enlarge and become pink to red in colour, the display peaking at Christmas time in Australia (i.e. during Summer).

Ceratopetalum gummiferum is one of nine species in the genus Ceratopetalum in the family Cunoniaceae, which occur in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The species was first formally described by English botanist James Edward Smith in 1793 in 'A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland'. The species is endemic to New South Wales where it occurs to the east of the Great Dividing Range from Ulladulla in the south to Evans Head in the north.

In cultivation, plants usually grow to no more than 6 metres in height. Plants may be propagated from seed or cuttings, the latter method being preferred to maintain good colour forms. Well-drained soil is required to avoid problems with dieback associated with root-rot fungus.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 3053 - AFTERNOON

This was a fine afternoon and a beautiful place to enjoy it in. By the banks of the Werribee River in Melbourne's West.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

 

DESKTOP 3003 - TEA-TREE

White's Tea-Tree, Leptospermum whitei, is a sturdy, often multi-stemmed shrub reaching up to 5m in height (under ideal conditions). Its preferred habitat are margins of coastal swamp forests and tidal waterways (here growing on the banks of the Werribee River). The species is named after Cyril Tenison White (1890-1950), botanist. Young bark is mid-brown in colour turning grey with age and has a rough fibrous texture where old bark is shedding in papery short strips.

Flowers appear in tight clusters over spring to early summer featuring five bright white and obovate shaped petals characteristic for the Leptospermum genus. They measure up to 12 mm in diameter when fully opened. Young green stems are covered in short fine hair. Simple leaves with an alternate arrangement are; up to 3 cm in length, elliptic in shape with entire margins, hairless, dark green, rather dull on top, thick with a stiff texture. Venation is obscure except for mid vein. Leaf apex is acute ending in a blunt point, base shape is cuneate. The petiole is nearly non existent at 1 -2 mm in length.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 2948 - SPRING SKY

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 2897 - CUT

Cut a tree down, plant another two to replace it...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 2895 - WEATHER

Yes, there's a lot of it in Winter...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 2873 - WILD PEARS

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.