Born Albino

I used to love these butterflies as a kid, to be honest Im sure I just loved butterflies. It is a Cabbage White Butterfly, a European species of Butterfly that was introduced to Australia in 1937. It spread rapidly and can be found in all states and territories, however it is more common in the Southern regions. It is distinctive white colouring makes it easily recognisable, and it has 2 black spots on the upper side of its wings. You can just see the staining of these spots in the photo. The catterpillars are just your typical green cylindrical green caterpillar, and feed on the soft leaves of cabbages, nasturtiums, and similar plants. The adults are nectar feeders.

If you wish to control these pests, it is best to do so during the caterpillar stage. If you are able to, pick them off and squish them. This is tedious, but effective and probably the most environmentally friendly way of doing it. I have found that if you put flour (plain or self raising) in a large salt shaker and dust the plants when they are still damp from due, this will help kull down the population of catarpillars. It worked wonders for my nanna's rhubarb.

If you have large areas to maintain, then there are some eco friendly sprays that you can try. Pyrethrum is widely available as a spray, it is derived from a genus of plants. The other solution I have tried is called Success, and it contains a bacteria that attacks the caterpillars. Both I have found to be rather successful, however they are contact sprays, which means you actually have to get the spray on the pest for it to be effective. So that means you have to be thorough when you spray, so get underneath the leaves and give it all a good coat.

Helix

Even the greatest walls must, in time, yield to the over-climbing ivy. - Robin Hobb

Ivy can be an unrelenting climber. Something you must always be aware of when you plant it, as commonly once it becomes established you will have great difficulty in removing. In my profession I commonly see it being used like a ground cover on sandy embankments. It will cover the ground in a loose carpet and constantly search for anything to climb. I quite like this look as it reminds me of European woodlands, and has a fairytale and timeless look to it. If this is the look your going for then please, keep an eye on it! I used to love using the English Ivy (Hedera helix) in flower arranging. The individual leaves work wonderfully in corsages and buttonholes, while the long tendrils can give your eyes something to follow in a larger arrangement.

Thirsty Little Carpet

In the hot weather of summer, these are one of the plants that so very often tend to fall to the wayside. They are a shade loving plant called Native Violets and unfortunately due to their short size (only about 10cm in height), they have shallow root systems to match. This means it doesnt take much for them to dry out and die off on hot days or heatwaves. That being said, they make a lovely lawn substitute in areas that that dont receive too much traffic and is too shady and damp for grasses to grow. They cover the ground and spread like a little carpet. Native Violets have lovely light green kidney shaped leaves with these beautiful, delicate purple and white flowers propped above the foliage. They flower prolifically durring the warmer months, and will throw up occasional flowers throughout the year. I find them a rewarding little plant that is easy enough to control if should get out of hand. Just make sure you keep the water up to them in the warmer months.

Daisy Magic

Daisies have got to be one of the easiest ways of adding colour to a garden. They are hardy plants that usually spread easily and almost always flower prolifically. The one in the photo has been recently planted in Memorial Park, in hopes of it spreading and adding some much needed colour. Commonly called a Blanket Flower, Gaillardia x grandiflora "Fanfare Blaze" is the botanical name. When ever you see a little 'x' in the middle of a botanical name, it means that the plant is a result of Hybridisation. So two simmilar species have been bred together to produce the plant you see now. Growing to a height of only 30cm and as the common name suggests, these plants tend to spread and cover the ground like a blanket. They grow best in full sun and slightly damp soil with some organic matter added to it. It struggles in clay and barren soils. They are unusual and beautiful. Great for attracting butterflies, and a magnificent touch for the festive season.

Have a Safe and Merry Christmas to all the Ninja Readers out there.

Flowering Fruits

Ornamental Pears are deciduous trees. So their leaves turn yellow/orange/red and fall in the Autumn, have bare branches in the winter, burst into bloom around September in the lovely white flowers you see in the photo, then grow branches thick with bright green leaves through the Spring and Summer. They make excellent shade trees in the Summer if you can get a species with a decent canopy. They are forgiving plants, fairly drought tolerant when established, and will cope reasonably well in wet clay soils. Just make sure you have the room for them to grow and spread, so do your research. Read the labels, ask the sales assistant, google it if need be. If you have a courtyard and *need* a tree, Id actually recommend growing a Flowering Plum as opposed to an Ornamental Pear. Both are non fruit bearing species of fruit trees, with similar looking flowers and growth habits, except that Flowering Plums tend to grow an average of about 5m, as opposed to around 10m with the Ornamental Pear. The catch 22 I guess is that the Plum isnt as hardy as the Pear, so it wont be so forgiving if you forget about it.

Empty Nest

From time to time I come across the occasional birds nest. This one had been abandoned as were no signs of any recent activity to show it had been in use (eg, egg shell, feces, parent birds, chicks etc). My knowledge on birds is limited, I can identify bird damage and can tell you the common names most of the birds about the park. Knowing the nest types of species is a bit beyond me. I know the very basics, so if I were forced to choose, I think this is made by a wattle bird or a dove. I actually like finding nests, I hate disturbing the parents if they are still using the nest though and make note to avoid that area where I can.

Cultured Boo

Most days, graffiti is a bad thing. More often then not, I see ugly scribbles or scratches all over the place in some meat heads attempt to show people "i was here, look how I ruined this lovely thing". I have never understood the logic behind it really. Pointless destruction. When I do find clever or nice looking graffiti, well, it warms the little cockles in my heart. This sticker did just that. It reminds me of a Boo from Mario Brothers, one that has traveled the world and became a French painter. It made me smile. 

Untrue Breeding

Caught red handed. This is an ant stealing nectar from a Western Australian Red Flowering Gum. Plants much prefer visitors like the little bee in the second photo, as they also help pollinate the flower, rather then just steal the nectar. WA Red Flowering Gums are currently a popular street tree. The flowers range from red, red-orange to red-pink. The blossoms are quite showey and the tree is a mass of red this time of year. They are great for encouraging birds into the garden. Wattle birds and other nectar feeders love to feast on the flowers, while parrot species will quite happily chew on the gumnuts. Just dont plant them next to the house, or you will have the constant sound of gumnuts being dropped onto the roof. They are reasnoble shade trees, and rewarding plants if you have the room for them. They grow readily from seed, however it is difficult to maintain the flower colour, as with each generation colour will vary to the parent. They are relatively slow growing trees, taking 7 years to mature from seed, and will grow to a height of about 10m.

Tasty Hedge

These dainty little blooms are the blossoms of a Lily Pily, if you wish to track it down, look for the tag name Syzygium Bush Christmas. Believe it or not, these plants are more commonly grown for their lovely glossy green leaves and easy hedging habit. If grown in a hedge, the pruning means that the flowers are mostly hidden underneath the foliage, and you only catch glimpses of the bright reddish pink berries when they form. I can vouch for why they make lovely hedges though. They dont like being dried out, however they are a lovely deep green, very thick foliage and are fast growers. If given enough nutrients and water, you will have a solid hedge within a year of planting them (however it will take longer if you buy the smallest available pot plant of them).

Street Tree

The good old Queensland Box Tree. How I loathe thee some days. Particularly this time of year. They shed leaves alot and due to the waxy coating on the leaves, they dont break down particularly well, so have to be raked up a lot to keep the parks neat. They are used in Memorial Park around the playground and are magnificent shade trees, I had to take this photo on a walk the other side of town, as the trees in Memorial are far too tall to get a shot of the leaves or the flowers. Mind you they have been growing there for well over 50 years.

Queensland Box trees were extremely popular street trees, due to their high pest/disease tolerance, low water requirements, good shade qualities and are less likely to drop large limbs like Eucalypt species. They have lovely rich deep green foliage to them, and get these fascinating white flowers on them, which turns the ground around them into a carpet of white when they begin to fall off. The nuts can be a bit of a pain if you arent wearing shoes, but their usefulness far outweighs a mild inconvenience of having to wear thongs outside. One word of caution, dont plant them near a pool or gutters, as when they do drop leaves, you will forever be picking them up.

Re-classified

 

Back in the 1700's, a chap by the name of Carlus Linnaeus invented binomial nomenclature. That I know doesnt sound very exciting, and I can remember studying at tafe thinking "Why do I need to know this?". Binomial nomenclature is the naming system we use today when we formally name a species. You may have read in previous blogs, me using the botanical name (or species name) of a plant. Prior to the invention of this naming system, a species name would contain a description of the plant/animal and as such could be several words long. This is an example I have ripped straight out of wikipedia:  Plantago foliis ovato-lanceolatus pubescentibus, spica cylindrica, scapo tereti (Plantain with pubescent ovate-lanceolate leaves, a cylindric spike and a terete scape). A bit ridiculous, dont you agree? So Mr Linnaeus invented Binomial Nomenclature, where a species is given 2 names in latin (the first name is the genus that the species belongs to), the second is a brief description of the species. This made things much simpler, and you can tell how successful the system is as it is still in use today.

Now, why do I have a picture of a WA Red Flowering Gum up the top? Well when species are discovered they are studied, classified and named. Further on down the track, species are re-studied so as to better understand them. When this happens, we sometimes discover mistakes that have to be corrected. For example, in the 1990's the genus Corymbia was created to classify a heap of plants that were classified somewhere inbetween the genus Eucalyptus and Angophora. All 3 genus are commonly referred to as Eucalypts or Gum Trees, but scientist like to be exact. WA Red Flowering Gums were one of those species that were reclassified into the new genus and went from being called Eucalyputs ficifolia, to Corymbia ficifolia.

I appreciate your patience with this blog. It is difficult to explain and telling you that naming happens by "Witchcraft" kinda just raises more questions. I hope this has helped a little. If you have any questions or I havent answered your question properly, feel free to ask me for more details in the comments and I will answer what I can.

Christmas

This is a plant that always makes me think of Christmas. It is a Western Australian Christmas Tree. My mum would always point them out to me when I was little and tell me their name. I began to associate the bush exploding in these visually stunning trees, with a big fat man sneaking down chimneys and leaving a hoard of gifts in exchange for bickies, carrots and a year's worth of good behavior (even though my house never had a chimney, and I'm sure I wasn't the best behaved kid this side of the black stump).

These trees are quite special. They are a member of a mistletoe family, Loranthaceae, and are hemiparacidic. In layman's terms that means that they are capable of photosynthesis and tend to steal nutrients and water from a host plant. They do this through specially adapted roots, that seek out other plant roots in which to pilfer from. I guess that is why they have such a long flowering period. It starts around the beginning of November, and can carry on until the beginning of January. Due to them being parasites, it is extremely difficult to have them in cultivation. So far I have never seen a nursery stock or sell them. 

They are absolutely stunning trees when in bloom, and are synonymous with the bush land around Perth and the south west. 

Yaaaar!

This isnt a playground that I normally look after. I actually came here on a day off. The mowing crew boys tend to look after this one.

Everytime I see this playground I tend to get a little bit envious. I would have loved an epic pirate ship playground as a kiddly wink. Most of the playgrounds I would climb over were made of treated pine, towards the end of my childhood they were transitioning into the bright metal playgrounds you see all the time now.

It also turns out playgrounds have to have a going over at least once a week by someone who is playground certified. I have not done this course, so we get someone else to do it. It basically means that a person who is trained to look for hazards and potential dangers for children can look over the playground and check that it is still safe for a child to play on. For example a couple of weeks ago in the playground in memorial, the plastic cover had come off the safety chain on the baby swing. To me or you that doesnt sound like very much at all. The person we have check it zipped off to get a new plastic cover and promptly warned the people using the swing that the cover was missing and just to be aware of it. It seems like such an insignificant thing, but the links in the chain are small and babies fingers can get caught inbetween them. The idea never even occurred to me. It was fixed by the end of the morning making it safer for the children, and safer for children means I dont hear as many children crying that they have hurt themselves. This is a good thing, as some kids have a magnificent set of lungs when they get injured.

Hognails

These funny looking things are the blossoms of an Australian Rice Flower. They also go by the common names Pill Flower, Sago Bush or White Dogwood. They are relatively new on the market and have become popular in the last 10 years or so. My leading hand and I had been trying for ages to get a couple of plants in to try and see how they go. They can become quite tall shrubs, up to 2m tall. They are native to New South Wales and Queensland, so it may be a few more years before we fully see what they are capable of in our sandy Western Australian soils. They are hard as hognails when they are established, requiring little water and a good prune every so often. They are also very rewarding plants. You can get them in pink or white hues and they flower quite prolifically. The one in the photo has been in bloom for a good couple of months now. The flowers, even thought they are small, last a long time in flower arrangements and I have used them a couple of times in my floristry. Im excited to see what this plant does with itself over the next couple of years.

Fashion trend

Some people find it hard to believe that gardens go through the same trends as the fashion industry does. Sometimes you can pick when a garden was designed by what is planted in it. For example, this plant is a diosma and it was hugely popular towards the end of the 80's and the early 90's. Alot of gardens back then contained hedges of diosma or golden diosma (which is very similar to diosma, except new leaves have a golden look to them) and large cocos palms, the shadey areas would have had a tree fern or two. Diosma still remains a popular plant today, just not as much as used to be. For that I am quite thankful as when a diosma flowers, it only flowers on the semi-hardwood growth. These are the stems of the plant that are a good couple of months old and still have the redish tinge to the thin leaf covered stems. Unfortunately people with very manicured hedges often remove this growth. So if you are too vigorous with your hedging, then your diosma wont flower. Your best bet is to only prune it about 4-6 times a year, and not prune too hard into the old hard wood. Fingers crossed you let it grow for a bit as they look quite lovely when they are given the chance to blossom, they are a mass of pink or white flowers.

Stolen Puppy Love

One of the nice things about being based in the same parks every day is you get to know some of the patrons who visit the park quite frequently. Particularly the dog walkers. I have a great love of dogs and would gladly have a pet dog if my home and lifestyle allowed it. So I love speaking with the dog walkers, stealing pats where ever I am able. I talk or wave to the owners of these two dogs almost every morning. Responsible pet owners, there definately needs to be more of them in the world.

Techno Babble

Variegation is a term used to describe plants that have leaves that contain more then one colour. Green and white is the most common of combinations. I occasionally get asked why some variegated plants turn fully green when growing in the shade, or why variegated plants grow much slower then their plain green counterparts. Plants make food from a pigment in their leaves called Chlorophyll. It absorbs light to provide the energy for photosynthesis, the process in which plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen, which in turn provides food for the plant to grow. Chlorophyll is green in colour, so where ever there is green on a plant, there is chlolorphyll. Where there is white, there is no chlorophyll, and that part of the plant is wholly dependent on the green parts to supply food to it. When there is very little light, plants are sometimes able to produce more chlorophyll and revert back to their natural green state, losing their variegation in order to make more food for the plant to survive. Variegated plants grow slower then their plain green counterparts as they just arent able to make as much food as the green plant. So there you have it, if youre a hungry plant, then variegation sucks. Man this is an educational blog today! Thanks for bearing with me.

Less Alien

I know people arent really fans of spiders, so I do try to keep spider posts to a minimum. I wanted to share this little guy with you all. He is my favourite type of spider, a Jumping Spider. I know that certain types of jumping spider can bite, so as always treat them with respect. I wanted to get a shot of his face, but he was not going to play. Jumping Spiders hunt down and pounce on their prey, so they have a lovely pair of large eyes which makes them seem less alien then most web building spiders. If I do manage to find a photogenic Jumping Spider, promise I will put a photo up :)

Nom

More weed tutorials. This is Soursob. It is part of the oxalis family. As a kid I used to chew the flower stems for their sour taste. Which is most likely where the name comes from. It is harmless to humans, but I know it can be toxic to live stock when consumed in large quantities, and for a plant that rarely produces fruit or seed it is surprisingly good at dispersing itself through human activity (moving around of contaminated soils, etc). They can also be spread via water ways as the bulbs float and will travel downstream. Unfortunately the easiest way to control soursob is to spray it with Round Up or any selective turf herbicide if it is growing in lawn (such as Bindie, etc), and it can take several years to get it fully under control if the infestation is a bad one.

Taking a Breather

Wearing flouro can be a double edged sword at times. It is a colour that is very attractive to certain insects. Which is great when you have butterflies, ladybird beetles, etc, landing on you for a breather or thinking that youre a flower. Unfortunately the colour is also rather attractive to bees, Im not afraid of them but I am allergic. So I just worry that one day I wont notice a bee resting on me and startle the little guy into stinging me. Fingers crossed I get more visitors like this delightful damselfly.

Blossom Scent

There are a couple of common names for this plant, so it is easy to get tripped up on it. I have always known it as an Orange Jessamine, joys of working in a Retirement Village for 2 years, you very quickly learn all the old fashioned names for plants. Most people in the gardening industry will just refer to it by its genus name of Murraya. Its full botanical name is Murraya paniculata. It is a large shrub, up to 2m and very good for hedging. What I like about it the most is it has the most magnificent scented flowers. They smell very similar to orange blossom, and the scent really travels on warm days. I absolutely love it. They are quite a hardy plant when established. If the soil around them is rich then the leaves will take on a lovely deep green colour. If they are growing in sand with very little nutrients, then the leave have a much more yellowey appearance to them. They have rather shallow roots, so try to keep the mulch up to them and prevent drying out. Otherwise, Id recommend growing them for the blossom scent alone.

Just why?

Ok, somewhere in the cosmos is a list of items you never expect to find in a park. A list that stretches the imagination and logic sections of your brain, to ponder how said items came to be in a park. I now get to add Tomato Shaped Kitchen Timer to that list. This is exactly how I found it. It has not been dropped or fallen out of a bag. It is not in an area that requires timing for races or any sports event. It is by the tourism office, near the town hall. Somebody has just decided that the perfect place for such a timer, is right there. I do believe I spent the better half of the morning trying to figure out why it was there. I was torn between whether it was Aliens that were baking human sacrifices in a lunar oven, or whether the wooden pillar has suddenly decided to sprout colourful plastic fruit offerings for the Wooden Pillar Gods of old.

Larvae

I found these guys growing in an abandoned ice-cream container. Mosquito larvae. Im still surprised at how many people dont know that its only the female mosquito that sucks blood. During feeding a mosquito can consume 3 times its own weight in food. Once a female has a full belly, she will withdraw for a few days to digest this meal and use the protein to nurture her eggs, which she will then hunt for a stagnant water source to lay them in. The larvae then hatch and feed on algae, bacteria and other microbes for a period of about 2 weeks at the end of which they will pupate. The pupa is capable of swimming but will usually only do so if disturbed to get away from predators. This stage will only last a couple of days, then the adult emerges from the pupa and the cycle begins again. For the curious, female mosquitoes only live for about 2 weeks in the wild (they have been known to live for a month in captivity). Male mosquitoes are nectar feeders and will only live about a week.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Not the greatest of photos, but he would have been 2mm across. Meet my first Christmas Spiderof the season.

Little Lizards

I was pulling out the annuals so that the beds could be replanted with the Christmas Annuals, when I scared the life out of this chap. Its a little skink, and I was wondering what was making a bee line towards my knee when I first saw him. I must have grabbed him when I was pulling the plants out as he had dropped his tail. I shifted him into some Juniper, as unfortunately he couldnt keep hiding under my knee. Skinks are very useful creatures in the garden. They prey on all sorts of garden pests that we hate. Grasshoppers, Caterpillars, Slugs, Moths, Flies, Ants, etc. If it can catch it and fit it in its gob, then it will most likely eat it. They rely mostly on the movements of their prey when hunting, so think along the lines of the T-rex from Jurassic Park, "Their sight is based on movement, if we dont move he cant see us". Also, believe it or not, a little skink can live for up to 2-3 years if conditions are good.

Resting Wings

We had just finished planting about 500 annuls in Memorial park, when this little guy decided to drop in while I was watering in the plants. He was even sweet enough to stay still while I took a couple of photos. This guy is a little damselfly. Im not 100% certain on this, but I have a rule of thumb on the difference between damselflies and Dragonflies. When resting (which is what this little guy is doing), dragonflies lay their wings flat out away from their body, making a crucifix shape. When damselflies rest, they fold their wings back behind themselves, like this little guy is doing. Now it is only a rule of thumb and Im certain there are exceptions to the rule, there always are, but its the only rule I have so far so Im sticking to it.

My Favourite Name

I love saying the name of this plant. Hebe! Hebe, Hebe, Hebe! These are quite a common plant, originally from New Zealand. A hardy little shrub that with little effort, will put on a lovely display of flowers that are just comming out of bloom now. The tiny little flowers come shades of purples, pinks and whites. If you hunt around you can get purple/white or pink/white mixes. They grow best in full sun and will benefit from a light prune every month or 2. Try not to be to hacky hacky with the pruning as they dont seem to recover quickly or well from that.

Trumpets

This is one of the first plants I learnt when I was studying plant identification at tafe, back in the once upon a time. It is an Orange Trumpet Vine, botanical name is Pyrostegia venusta.  I love the fact that its botanical name is very descriptive of what the plant is. Pyro means fire, Stege means cover and venusta means pleasing. It is a visually stunning plant when in bloom, as it is awash with these vibrant orange blossoms that honey eaters adore. It is an extremely vigorous climber, and I dont say that lightly. It will cover entire fence lines or trees, tangling onto itself. So I stress, keep it in check and if you dont have room for it to spread, then dont grow it. I remember when I first met my stepdad, he had it growing up a wall along the side of his house that would cop the afternoon sun. The plant was a good 50cm thick, yet no matter how hot the day got, the wall underneath that climber was always cool, which in turn kept the adjacent rooms cool, and his yard always had honey eaters that would drop in for a drink from this beautiful plant.

Fairly Up and Down

This lovely flower is the blossom of a Native Frangipani (Hymenosporum flavum). I absolutely love this tree, and its common name isnt a misnomer either. It is genuinely native to Australia. It can be found on the east coast of Australia, from Sydney to Cape York. It can even be found in parts of Papua New Guinea. Not native to Western Australia, it still grows rather well here. Just make sure when you plant it that it has plenty of room to grow, as it can grow 10m+. It does have a bonus that it is a fairly narrow tree. So if it grows above 10m, it would probably only have canopy width of about 3-6m. The flowers appear around September and continue to about November. The flowers fade as they age, giving a multitone effect to the tree. So they start that lovely deep butter yellow, fade to the light lemon yellow and finally fade to the white. When in bloom, the tree is a mass of the different yellows and really does look quite effective, and they have a slight fragrance to them which I absolutely love. A rewarding tree if you have the room.

Nostalgia trip.

I found a possum! This both heartens and saddens me. I can remember when I was a kid, these animals in the trees would light up at night time with little fairy lights. Working from memory, there was a possum, koala, magpie and bat. The bat was my favourite as a kid, because it was the easiest to find. I can still remember begging my mum to drive the long way to my Uncle's house so we could see them lit up. It heartens me that they still have 3 of them in the trees, even if you do have to hunt for them a bit. Its like a piece of my childhood is still clinging to the present. It saddens me a bit that they have greatly fallen into disrepair. The bat is long gone, I can only see the koala, possum and magpie now. Occasionally bits of wire and fairy light will fall down to the lawn area as they slowly rot away. They have been up in the trees for well over 20 years that I know of, and I have no idea whether they were put there by McDonald's or the Counsel. Nobody seems to know, so nobody takes responsibility. Its a shame really, as I remember they used to make me so very happy.

8 Weeks

 

So, this happened on Monday. I dont think they were forming a hive, just resting while they swarm and choose a place to set themselves up in. Unfortunately we had to get rid of these bees. That bit of black you can see in the corner of the photo is the top of a waist high fence and it is right next to the skate park. Management have issues with kidlets being that close to that many bees. Which is understandable. Protect the kiddies at all costs! On a slightly irrelevant side note, some useless information on bees that I found out today. During peak honey making season, a bee will only live for up to 8 weeks. The reason for this is they are so busy, they quite literally wear away their wings.

So Soft

I love finding these feathers about the parks. I think that it is one of the soft under feathers from one of the ducks, but I have no real idea what bird this came from. I simply know that it brightens my day when I come across them.

So Much Red

The bright red Bottlebrush that is comming into bloom all around Perth at present is most likely the popular cultivar, "Kings Park Special". They are a rewarding medium tree/large shrub that can definately handle a bit of pruning and do well as hedging plants. Bottlebrush come in several different colours, from the striking red of the Kings Park Special, to more mellow reds, pinks and even a few whites. The biggest thing with Bottlebrush is they can be easily mixed up at times with different Paperbarks and Honey Myrltes, as they are all members of the Callisttemon family. A rough rule of thumb is that bottle brushes do not have papery bark, but even then there are some exceptions to this rule and I promise you that you will be forgiven if you get the 3 mixed up.

*Curse Word* Flies

Yes, spring is comming and so are the flies. Unfortunately due to the extra rain, I reckon the flies will be bad this summer. The weather is becomming quite warm and humid, which creates ideal breading conditions for flies and blow flies to breed. My best piece of advice is to clean up, remove any rubbish and such, this takes away breeding places for flies. We emp[ty the bins and check the parks for rubbish every morning, however by putting your rubbish in the bins we dont have to try to hunt it all down and such, which means the bins get emptied in a much more timely manner. This keeps the flies at bay. See, putting your rubbish in the bin is a good thing. I heartily encourage it.

Urban Legend

Coprosma repens, or simply known as Coprosma has a bit of an urban legend about it. Some people say that the holes that you can see along the axils of the veins on the underside of the leaves are visible stomata. Now stomata are cells on the surface of the plant leaf that open and close to allow the flow of gasses in and out of the leaf. Essentially it is like a mouth, plant breaths in Carbon Dioxide and breathes out Oxygen and Water Vapor. When a plant gets dehydrated and begins to wilt, these stomata close up to help prevent any further water loss. So there are 2 main reasons why saying that the visible holes on a Coprosma leaf are stomata is false; first of all, Stomata are microscopic and cant be seen with the naked eye. Second of all, I have never seen these holes close even when the plant has wilted, which is one of the primary functions of stomata. In truth these holes are just holes. They benefit the plant, but they dont open and close to allow gasses to pass through the leaf. The holes exist as a place for the plant to grow nitrogen fixing bacteria, which increases the plants food supply as Nitrogen is a very vital part in plant health and growth. So go forth people and spread the word. Lets dispel this pesky urban legend.

Oxalis or Wood Sorrel

Due to all the rain of late, it has been hard to control some of the weeds at work. So they have gotten quite big and are flowering. I figured I would do a couple of blogs on weed identification, as it is quite common for people to pick my brain on what is a weed and how do they get rid of it.

I know this weed to be Purple Oxalis (Oxalis purpurea), but it has a multitude of common names that I have never before heard used. Every gardener I know just calls it Pink Oxalis or Purple Oxalis, however some herbicide instructions list it as Large Flowered Wood Sorrel. Like most weeds in Western Australia, it originates from South Africa and is believed arrived here as a garden plant that escaped. It prefers the heavier, more clay based soils around the South West region of WA and in domestic situations is quite a common turf weed. Even though the bulbs for this plant are usually pretty shallow, I dont recommend digging it out unless its a really small patch. It will create more work then its worth. It is an annual weed that disappears during the Summer when it gets too hot, so spraying in late winter/early spring is your best bet. Find a decent selective herbicide, it will tell you on the back what species of weed it will work on. It may list Oxalis as "Wood Sorrel", so keep an eye out. As they are bulbs, you will need to do a few repeat applications to fully remove this weed from your lawn, such is the nature of most turf weeds. One thing I do stress is ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE HERBICIDE PACKAGING! By following the instructions, you will get the job done more efficiently. I know its Unaustralian to read and follow instructions, but please believe me it is safer and worth doing.

Eyes

I was back and forth past this little guy for about an hour today. Little bugger stood out like a sore thumb, being dark brown against the green shade cloth. He was about 5cm in length and wings are very small, so Im willing to guess he has a few more molts to go before its fully grown. The thing I find most fascinating about Praying Mantis at present is their eyes. Their two compound eyes on top of their head allow them have binocular vision. This is the kind of vision that humans have, both eyes focus on a single object giving a slightly different angle of the object. The brain puts the two images together which allows for excellent depth perception. So this makes Praying Mantis excellent hunters.

Inner Child

Joys of working next to a playground. You occasionally find a rogue balloon. I'm glad to see my inner child is alive and well, as this usually brightens my day immensely.

Spider Webs and Fur

I do apologise for the photos but I was rushed to take them. In the picture is a little Willy Wag Tail nest. The top one has the bird on the nest, even though you have to look really closely at the fork at the end of the branch in the center of the tree. The bottom photo is just of the nest. You can see the little grey cup shape next to the fork in the branch. I tried to be as quick as I could, I dont like disturbing birds while they are nesting, and I didnt even realise the nest was there until the Willy Wag Tail started chattering at me.

Willy wag tails make their nests out of grasses and coat the outside with spiderwebs. They have a habit of using fur to line their nest, and have been known to take it directly from the animal itself in pasture situations. If fur is not available, then soft grasses will do the job. The male willy wag tail is just as devoted as the female to parenting. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks when they hatch.

Bwaaaar Bwaaaar Groh Groh

We had to move this little Motorbike Frog today, from the skate park. He was nestled away in a corner of the paving and unfortunately we had to blow the area down. So I shifted him over to the large hedge where there is lots of room for him to hide. I was actually surprised by how little he protested when I had to move him. He virtually crawled into my hand and sat there in his ."You cant see me" pose of being as small and flat as possible.  Normally they jump about and get really slimy. I guess the cold weather must be getting to him too.

Motorbike Frogs are the most common frog in the South West of Western Australia. They are usually the first to colonize and breed in backyard ponds. Their colours vary from bright green with gold splodges after basking in the sun, to the darker fawns and browns with green splodges when it gets cool. They are one of my favourite frogs, and this little guy brightened my day so very much.

Stunning

The colours of the Ranunculus at work are far too beautiful not to share. Arent they stunning? I also found out, the common name for Ranunculus is a Buttercup. You learn something new every day