Ask First

"Ever seen a blue bee?". Thats what my coworker said to me the other day and to be honest, the photos really dont do the little guy any justice. In the sunlight he shines a dark metallic blue colour. Even though he is a little beaten up (he must have been caught in the leaf litter while it was being raked out, so he has lost some legs and a wing), he is still quite beautiful. There were a heap of them buzzing around in the skate park in a large group, and I got a little worried. They didnt seem to be building a hive, however we do often get young children at the park on their tricycles, so I didnt want them poking around a potential bee hive. After some research and a quick email to the Agricultural Department, explaining my problem, I now know what this little guy is. He is a type of native bee Leioproctus sp. (Family: Collectidae). That is gibberish to most people, myself is almost included in this bracket. I was not given a common name, but am happy to just call this guy a Native Bee. They are a solitary bee, so they do not build hives. The group of them in the skate park, are essentially a bunch of bachelors, hanging out just waiting for a lovely lady bee to come along (an apparently they are quite beautiful too). So I didnt have play the role of toxic avenger as they will move on as they manage to hook up with a woman bee. The other reason I didnt have to spray, is they are very calm bees. Turns out only the introduced Honey Bee (the one we all know and can recognise), is aggressive and will sting when provoked. Native bees are very placid creatures. Some species dont even have stings at all, the ones that do will only sting under great duress. Hell, this little guy lost a wing and a couple of legs and still didnt attempt to sting anyone. Cool as a cucumber. For a person who is allergic to bee stings, these little guys are pretty epic in my books.

Wha?

This blew my little mind this morning. There was a Pelican in the lake. I have never seen one there before. He was gone by smoko. Never a dull moment really.

Touching

Im a touch late for Anzac Day, I was out of town and I do apologise. But better late then never.

The top photo is the Kelmscott War Memorial, and I took that photo a couple of days before Anzac Day. That memorial was built in 1926 and has been in that spot ever since. When I was a teenager, I used to go to Memorial Services there during the day, although Im sure they run Dawn Services there. It tends to be a bit quieter than the Armadale services, but still manages to draw quite a crowd considering.

 The bottom photo is of the Armadale War Memorial. That memorial was built in 1916 on  the corner of Eleventh Rd and Fourth Rd, then was relocated to Memorial Park in the 1950s. Just before Remembrance Day last year, the coloured glass panels were put in, reflecting the ribbons worn on war medals. They also contain information on various conflicts. This photo was taken on the Sunday morning, 3 days after Anzac Day. Hence the reason for all the floral tributes. There is a Dawn Service held at this memorial and will draw a crowd of about 5000 people. Which personally I think is a very touching thing.

Ooga Booga

This guy made me grin for a good hour. I was blowing around admin and I found this piece of paper caught in amongst the leriopes. When I pulled it out, one side was munched on by the snails, the other side was untouched, just a bit dirty from the sand. The piece of paper was this little guy. I have no idea where he is from, who had lost him, or how he came to be in the bushes at admin. He is rather amusing though, and I couldnt help but feel happy about finding such a cool little guy.

1 Day

The thing with gardening is, everything changes. These pictures were taken 1 day apart. The first photo was taken on a Thursday, just as it was opening. It isnt quite the perfect bud, and thats what I like best about it. It sums up nature magnificently, it may not be exactly perfect, but nether the less, is very beautiful. The last photo was taken on the Friday, I imagine the flower will be spent by the Monday when I return to work. Its part of why I love my job, it teaches you to look closer, look for the little things, and to enjoy the beauty while it lasts.

In Disguise

I apologise to the spider phobics out there. There seems to be a bit of a plague of Redbacks at work at present, I swear I find another one every time I swap a bin at work. They seem to love hanging out on the lids of the wheelie bins inside the bin cages. Im quite grateful I wear gloves, to be honest. Spider bites arent fun. So, an explanation of the photos. Well, I thought I would introduce the many disguises of the Redback. The top photo is of a male Redback. He is very small, his abdomen wouldnt even be half a centimeter across, and he has no red or strong black colouring. You pick him from his brown stripe on a white abdomen.That and he looks like a Redback that has been coloured in wrong. Male Redbacks mature in about 90 days and they are short lived, mostly because they encourage the female in sexual cannibalism! During mating he somersaults his abdomen infront of the females jaws and is consumed by her during mating. The bottom two pictures are of female Redbacks at different juvenile stages. It takes approximately 4 months for the female to mature, so it takes a little while for her to grow into her colours. she starts off the ligher brown colour with white splotches amongst her red stripe, then slowly turns black and loses her white. She will grow to about the size of a pea. Now that you are all educated, I really wish they werent hanging out in the bins so much at work.

Tropical Trickery

This is a plant I remember from my youth. Every man and his dog had one, Im sure. I was in my late teens, just starting to study horticulture, when I found out the name of this hibiscus. Its an Apple Blossom Hibiscus. It always made me think of tropical places as a kid. I guess Hibiscus will do that to you, but its actually from China. Blew my little mind when I found out. Its one of those lovely large shrubs, that can handle a good prune when it gets too big. Even if you take it back to fairly bare stems, it will usually reshoot and look quite shrubby again after a few months. They do have the bad habit of all hibiscus, of having a branch randomly dying off for no apparent reason. Its just what it does, I have no explanation as to why. They are a rewarding shrub though, fairly hard to kill once established and very rewarding with flowers. This one grows in an area that receives no reticulation and the only maintenance it has received, was to cut it down to 2m tall about 18 months ago. Cant even tell where we've pruned it now. Tough as old boot hide and good on it too.