Its In The Spelling

For a long time, all I had to go with on this blue flower is its called seeanothis. Least thats what my leading hand told me. I tried to google it and hunt down more information but have struggled. The other day I had a brain wave and started looking up pictures of "Blue Bottlebrush". Took a few goes but it turns out I was spelling it wrong, its Ceanothus, also known as a Californian Lilac. Feeling quite proud of that little victory.

Nommy Weed

Im sure everyone has the same complaint as me at present, a little bit of rain and all the weeds seem to spring up out of nowhere. This is a very common one and almost everyone I know has seen this one, its Sow Thistle. A native to Europe, Asia and Northern Africa, it has managed to naturalise itself pretty much over the entire globe. It spreads by seed that is dispersed on the wind in the same way dandelions do with their fluffy parachutes attached to the seed. There is an old saying, one years weeding is seven years seeding. Essentially if you weed it out before it goes to seed, your problems are halved. The plants themselves are easy enough to pull out of the ground when weeding, but make sure you get the taproot, otherwise it will just re-shoot.

Interesting to note, this plant is also edible. My stepdad and I used to pick the leaves, wash them, then boil them up like spinach. I used to love it and I have it a guilty pleasure occasionally. Its full of iron and rather good for you.

Clivia

The Clivias are looking quite spectacular at present. Their vibrant colour is a welcome burst of happiness after all the winters rain. One of the hardier plants that will flower in full shade. Most commonly available in orange, though if you hunt around you can occasionally find some of the newer varieties in red-orange, yellow or cream.

The genus is names after Charlotte Percy (nee Clive), Duchess of Northumberland and the governess of Princess Victoria of Kent, future Queen Victoria. The Duchess grew up in a plant loving family and was the first person in Great Britain to get this lovely South African plant to bloom.

Grounded

So, the vet in Armadale thinks we're stalking them today. When we come across an injured bird, we usually try to take it to a veterinary clinic that has contact with a bird sanctuary. With some luck the bird can be healed and returned to the wild. This leads me to these two little characters I met today. A general rule of thumb is if a bird has suddenly lost his ability to fly, he most likely will be picked off by natural selection. It was just unusual today to find two injured birds in completely different circumstances. The first little character was the White Corella that I found wandering round Minnawarra Park. Corella's are entertaining to catch, as you want to keep your skin away from that beak. They bite hard. I essentially just dropped a hessian bag over the top of him and let him chomp on that til I could put him in a bucket and take him to the vet. You cant tell from the photo, but he was missing an eye and had a bit of a chunk taken out of his wing. He was lively though, hissed at me a bit, completely unaware that Im helping. The second injured bird we came across to day was a crow. I saw him hopping around in Memorial Park during the rubbish run, but didnt think too much of it. When he was sitting still when we returned to Memorial after smoko, thats when we figured there was something wrong. It took myself and my workmate to corner and grab him. His foot was curled up and there was something wrong with his wing, but no visible signs of any wounds. He was relatively quiet little guy, though he did make a few rattling noises when he got sick of being manhandled on the way to the vet. Unfortunately it is very unlikely that I will hear from the vet again on the outcome for these little guys. God speed fellas, hope you make a full recovery.

Pop Up

What do I like best about first rains? Funig! It pops up everywhere. Quite literally as this photos shows. Im not sure which type of toadstool this this, but it has pushed its ways through the the clumps of lawn clippings. Never underestimate how determined plants and fungi are to show their little faces to the world.

Technobin

It is part of our job to empty the bins around the parks, so we have quite the stash of Wheelie Bins. We just get the reject bins from the tip. You know the ones where you ring up the counsil and say that your bin is cracked, broken, or otherwise behaving in an unbin-like mannor and you are given a shiney new bin while the old one mysteriously disappears. Well, we get the pick of the disappeared bins. So some are newer and some are older, depending on when we restock. I was most ammused the other day to discover something resembling a QR code stamped on the side of the bin. I was unaware such technology was required for rubbish removal. Learn something new every day.

Teenage Mutant Ninja 30 Year Olds

I realise an explanation is needed. My friends inform me that Im a bit on the nerdy side, however what kid didnt like the Ninja Turtles? So lets all embrace that!One of the awesome things about working in parks is you find the occasional action figure.  I was excited to find a Donatello action figure as he was my favourite. My partner informed me that yesterday was the 30 year anniversary since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first came into being, in the form of a Comic Book. So I took my little found Donatello on some action and adventures in the day in the life of a gardener. :D