I follow Alison and Don’s travel blog. but they are in Canberra in today’s post (Alison is from Canberra originally) and highlight many of the common colourful avian species in Australia in this post.
It’s well worth a view/read and their photos are superb.
(and if you are interested in travel worldwide, Alison and Don are experts – both their photos and travel diary. I can highly recommend the following).
I found this lovely and rather interesting grass, Feather-heads (Ptilotus macrocephalous) in a landscaped bed in the Royal Botanic Garden (RBG) on my regular walks when I lived on the inner south-east side of Melbourne pre-April 2015.
This bed was filled with many different types of grass with various heights, seed heads and interesting planting patterns.
The grass bed below is the particular one I’m talking about.
The bed looks rather overgrown in the 2012 image above, but it is worth a look close-up if you’re visiting the RBG in Melbourne (ehrrr…..assuming it’s still there 😀 ). The bed gets full sun and I imagine the soil rather dry in Melbourne’s hot summer (like today which is very hot at 38C).
Feather-heads are a perennial with woody rootstock and widespread on dry sites in western Victorian grasslands but becoming increasingly rare.
Few seeds develop during a wet spring as the upright flower collects water and the pollen is destroyed, so I might suggest the last 3 years of flooding rains in Victoria (and the east coast of Australia in general) might have wiped this grass out in the wild? Just a guess. The long-range weather forecast said the next 3 years are going to be exessivly dry and hot in Australia.
It’s native to Australia and classified as a herb. The showy ‘bottlebrush-like’ flowers are up to 12cm long and 7cm wide, held at the ends of stems up to 80cm tall.
Just another of the grasses filed in a folder in my photo library that actually is identified – most are not.
Seasons Greetings
As you go dashing through the busy holiday season, take time to appreciate the true blessings of Christmas – the moments with family, the companionship of friends, and the fellowship with all.
Keep safe and healthy.
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……..and dare I say it out loud. WordPress seems to have settled down this morning and the Gremlins have moved on to cooler climates and someone else’s computer. I’m keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed it remains that way.
Heatwave over the lower half of Australia this week, but I’m thinking of all those housebound through that Siberian front that hangs over the northern areas of North America bringing massive snowfalls and freezing conditions. I think one YouTube said the temperature was going to drop to as low as -57 F ? Or did I mishear the international news?
I was so impressed with the narration and broad views of the landscape showing the floods in Renmark, South Australia, that I thought it worthwhile sharing here.
Beautifully captured and edited (just fast-forward those annoying ads).
This YouTube was originally shared by Annie on her blog Eremophila’s Musings
These floods are similar to what the east coast of Australia has been experiencing.
The YouTube is fairly long to watch but well worth viewing right to the end.
A Moment in Time 