Plant Tags

This plant is a lesson to not fully believe what the little plastic tags on plants say. This is a Cottonwood Hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus), and its a bit of a mystery as to how big these trees/large shrubs get to, as they havent been growing in WA for long enough to know. They are easy to control, easy to prune (seriously, very easy, the wood is deliciously soft and easy to cut) so if they do get too big they can be brought back to size but be warned, they are fast growers. Plant tags state that this plant can grow an average of 7m, however that is to different conditions then what we have in WA. Horticulturists arent certain if it could get bigger then this as different soil, temperature, average rainfall, etc impacts how big a plant will get. So in future, if youre planting a shrub and just going off the info on the plant tag, please be prepared that the plant may not behave exactly as the tag implies.

What Makes A Redback

I really do apologise for the quality of photo here. Dratted phone. So I added the old photo of the mummy redback just to try to give a clear photo (that photo is a good 18months old or so) However, the little lady in the top photo fell off one of the bins I was lifting. I always get that 'hmmmmm, thats not a good thing is it?' vibe when this happens. I think she had made her web right where the handle for the bin was, so it could have ended quite badly if she hadnt fallen. For those of you wondering, how I know thats a female Redback Spider, well, only the females look like this. She wasnt particularly big, possibly as big as the nail on my pinky finger. I have seen them get an abdomen thats a good 2cm across. But only the females are the entirely black with the red stripe down their abdomen. The males are always much smaller, less then half the size of a female, and have a browney black body, white abdomen with a browney black stripe. The juvenile females are more browney black, their abdomen is a mix of whites, blacks and brown with the beginings of the red stripe. So if you see a funny looking Redback, whos abdomen isnt the characteristic black, chances are youve come across a juvie.

A View

Please dont question my sanity. Im not taking photos of bins, shops or carparks. I noticed this and got the most pleasant surprise. If you look between the gaps in the trees in the center of the photo, you can see the silhouette of Perth. Unfortunately the phone struggles with taking pictures that require any form of effort or what ever the technical word for it is. However you can just see it and please take my word, that is was quite pretty to look at. Took me by surprise, I didnt think we were high enough to be able to get any semblance of a view.

A Change In Weather

These photos were taken on Thursday. The weather decided to give us a bit of a break. The top photo is of the clouds against the hills. One of the things I love about where I work, is its very photogenic. The hills frame your view and they mess, quite spectacularly sometimes, with the weather. This is the best photo I could take with the basic phone that Im still using. I love seeing finger of light poke through the clouds. Then as turned around I spotted the rainbow (apologies for the McDonalds, I took the photo then realised how it looks. Rainbows always make me smile. About half an hour later the heavens opened and the rain fell. Thank Hera! It was horribly sticky til then. I think I just stood in the rain for a good 5 minutes and enjoyed feeling it fall against my face. The picture of the bridge on the lake was about the only shot I could take to show the rain fall, you can see the circles on the water. I dont think Ive ever been so grateful to see it rain in such a long time.

Pure. Unadulterated. Joy!

This is quite possibly the BEST find that has ever been made, in the history of the world!!!! For those who arent living in Perth, the weather this past week has been horrendous. Close to or above 40 degrees with icky sticky humidity. I am covered in heat rashes due to it. We have a new contractor with us at present and he called me over to look at this. Someone had thrown an industrial fan in the middle of a hedge in the middle of the park. That takes effort. Its bloody heavy and you cant drive into this park, someone has gone to the effort of carrying this half way across the park, decided that they dont want it, then pick it up high enough to lob it into a hedge that is almost shoulder height. I had to crawl into the hedge to dislodge the legs from the branches in the bushes. So we took it back to the bunker and it works! Its brilliant! Its blowing all the posters off the pin up board and I think Im in love with it. May have to propose marriage to it or something.

Crepe Myrtle

These are on my list of my favourite plants. Its a Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) and they can be either a small tree or large shrub, depending on how you train them. I prefer them to grow as trees, so that means training them to grow from a single trunk and cutting off the suckers that may form at the base. The bark on them is really pretty to, but I struggle to describe it and I dont have a photo of it. So youre just going to have to google it Im afraid. The flowers are most commonly found in pink, but I have also seen them in white, red and purple. The thing that amuses me the most about this plant is in the name of them. The botanical name includes the word 'indica' which translates 'from India', however this plant is native to China, Japan and Korea. When it was discovered/named, the botanists werent very good with geography and generally called that region India. So now the name is stuck.

History

We have a bit of a historic precinct at work. Armadale was settled sometime round the mid to late 1800s. Some of the old buildings had been salvaged and were relocated in the 1980s to Minnawarra Park. The one in the photo is the side view of the old Church. Its still used for weddings today, although I tend to see more people getting married under the gazebo near the lake. They also relocated the old primary school which is just behind the large bush to the right of the photo. Both buildings were originally built around 1900, just a couple of streets away, and were scheduled for demolition in the 1980s, before a committee of residents banded together to save and relocate the buildings. The old school is where the Rangers hang out now, so the building is still in use. Cant blow the pavement there after 9am, as it interrupts phone calls, and that tends to peeve the rangers off a bit. Turns out old walls are not very good at keeping noise out. This is one of the more prettier areas at work, and when the sun isnt beating down on me, its quite a nice place to potter around in the garden.

Lost and Found

I was dead heading roses today when the boss called me over and wanted to steal my bucket. Turns out this little guy was being attacked by the wild birds in the park. He was rather tame and was quite happy to sit in the bosses hands while I brought the bucket over. Im guessing hes a runaway. He was dropped off at the vets at any rate. They'll fix him up and hopefully either find his old owners (he had a little tag round his foot) or find him a nice new home.

Let It Bee

I have only ever seen one Leaf Cutter Bee in my career. Ive been gardening for 10 years this year. Ive seen heaps of the damage they cause, but only one bee, possibly two but I cant be sure about the second. To be quite frank, Im quite proud of that. Some coworkers, through out my career, have never physically seen the bee before and theyve been gardening alot longer then me. If I had to describe them, they basically look like a very chunky bee with a big head and is hairy underneath the abdomen. The one I saw looked a bit blue, but thats the best description I can give. The two photos show the damage they cause. Very neat, almost perfect circles cut out of the sides of the leaves. Ive mainly seen the damage on roses (particularly the iceberg variety and the newer leaves of other varieties), but they will cut up any soft leaved plant. If it were caterpillar damage, then the damage would be alot more irregular, and random. Its the female bee that causes the damage, as she cuts the leaves and uses them to make nests for her eggs. The nests are primarily made in small, existing holes in logs, wood, etc, but can be made in the soil, depending on the species. Spring and summer is when the main damage occurs and unfortunately there isnt much you can do about it. Then again, Leaf Cutter Bees typically dont cause much harm, the plant looks unsightly for a little bit but Ive never known a rose to die from a few chewed off leaves. Just let it be, please, its a garden, half the fun of gardening is that it isnt meant to be perfect. For the curious, the rose in the top photo is suffering from a bit of scorch too, due to the reflected heat from the brick wall behind it. Scorch is just the tips of the leaves burning and is caused by many factors, primarily a combination of heat and lack of water.