Common Misconception

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a crow. It is actually a Raven. There are no crows in the Perth metropolitan area, only ravens. And the question on everyone's lips Im sure is, what do we call them when there is a group of them. Obviously you cant call them a murder of crows, as they arent crows. I now introduce you to one of my favourite collective terms, you call them an unkindness of ravens! pretty cool huh? Love it! These are also frightfully smart birds. It has taken me ages to get a picture of one, as every time they see me with my phone in my hand, they think Im going to throw something at them so they fly away. I seriously cant believe its taken me 2 months to get a decent photo of one.

The Smell

You can smell these everywhere at present. It is a Star Jasmine, or Trachelospermum jasminoides. Its not actually a 'true' jasmine, as this particular plant is part of the milkweed family Apocynaceae, not the olive family Oleaceae (where true jasmines belong). Star Jasmines have a very strongly perfumed flower, you can scent them from a good couple of meters away at least. If the plant is particularly large, the smell can give people headaches although Ive never come across anyone who has suffered this (think my tafe lecturer might have been trying to scare us with that one). I love the plant personally, its quite hardy and very rewarding. The one in this photo is pretty much growing in yellow sand with a little bit of blood and bone and its an absolute mass of white flowers. We use them as groundcovers at work, but they are avid climbers. If you grow one be prepared to have lots of trellis room for it, because if its happy it will get bushy and thick in no time at all.

Grow This Paperbark

This is the flower of a swamp paperbark growing in one of the parks. This type of paperbark is less invasive then the broad leafed paperbark. So I personally prefer this one. The difference is quite obvious between the two. The swamp paperbark has small needle like leaves, the broad leafed paperbark has .... wait for it .... broad leaves. Well, broad in comparison to needles like leaves. Broad leaved paperbarks tend to be rather straight and upright trees, they arent the greatest shade tree. Swamp paperbarks tend to have a broader canopy (which is a mass of white bottle brush like flowers around November) so in my opinion are a nicer tree. Swamp bottlebrush are also a native to Western Australia, another feather in its little cap.

I Hate Plumbago

This week has not been enjoyable so far. Given that the week has just started, this does not bode well. Today we were hedge trimming the massive plumbago hedge next to the highway. On the plus side it wasnt a hot day like it was the last time we pruned it, but it did rain a bit in the morning. Now, bit of back story, I am the tallest person at he bunker. Please dont think of me as a giant, I just work with small people. So, being the tallest Im put on the pole hedgetrimmer as I can reach further while the other two did the outside of the hedge. Now even though the hedgetrimmer Im using is on the end of a big stick, I still have to stromp through the hedge to reach places of it. When the hedge is wet from all the rain, I was soaked from belly button to big toe in a couple of minutes. My socks felt like sponges. Not a particularly pleasant feeling on a cool day. In the middle of my mental grumblings about how generally unfair life is at present, I spy this little guy sitting quietly in an area I had just pruned! He made me smile. Im chalking that up as a win.

Overload

*twitch* too many annuals to plant *twitch*

We needed about 1000 annuals to plant up so the beds look all beautiful for christmas and new years .... the boss ordered about 1500. This photo was taken on day 2 of the 3 days it took to plant them all. We mostly had petunias, but there were some portulaca, dianthus and celosia to mix it up a bit. I normally quite enjoy planting the annuals, its something different in our routine jobs. This time there were just too many. We were struggling for places to plant them. I ended up planting them inbetween the older annuals up in the staff garden. *twitch* just too many annuals.

Photo Bombed!

An explanation to the top photo, I spent ages trying to get a really good photo of a willy wag tail with no success, now the buggers are photo bombing me out of spite! The bottom photo was the decent shot of the pretty rose at work. The smell of it is devine! Its a little standard rose we planted last year. To be very honest Im very surprised it didnt get stolen, we've had a heap of plants taken of late. Its nice to see that some are growing and thriving, with or without the willy wag tails.

Obvious Questions

He has no name and he is the only fish in the lake at work (excluding the minos). He is a koi and he is about a meter or so long. He could also be a she, my knowledge on the gender identification of koi is nonexistent  There have been many days where I will get people come running up to me while Im working and ask me if I was aware that there is a giant fish swimming round in the lake. If it is an adult asking me this question, in my head I question that persons sanity. I mean really, I work in the park on a daily basis, I see that lake 5 days a week. However good customer relations dictates my response, a simple nod or 'yes'. The person will then question me the length of time that the fish has been there. Well, I know that he has been there for at least 8 years, but it takes alot longer for koi to get that large. I once read that they can live for 20-30 years, perhaps longer if conditions are favorable. So my politically correct response is always 'a long time'. Yay for safe answers.