Like Cats

Its everlasting season again. We seed them back in May with the first lot of rains, it just takes a few months for them to grow to the right height and bloom. These ones have been out since early July and look amazing! Everlastings are a type of daisy, so they also have the daisy habit of closing up their petals of a night time. These flowers have also evolved to close up when they get wet too, its like theyre cats and they hate water. The petals are very dry and water repellent, so they are very effective at keeping their center dry. I never knew this about everlastings before this season. I was working near the garden bed when a shower of rain came through, then all the blossoms began closing. It was fascinating. Please dont think that they snap shut like a mouse trap, theyre awesome flowers but not quite that awesome. They take a little while to close up, and even then dont close as tightly as they do overnight. Still pretty cool though.

Sopping

The parks are soaked at present due to the months worth of rain we've had. In the past month we have managed to bog the ute twice in the lawn areas of the parks. Its that wet. One thing I do admit, it is nice doing the rubbish run on a sunny morning after the rain. The plants look rather pretty covered in the droplets of water. This particular specimen is the flower buds of a Dianella. We have a heap of these plants at work, they are honestly very hardy plants and will survive in most situations (just be mindful that they form a pretty thick clump and spread quite easily if theyre happy). It does get a bit frustrating walking through them at the skate park while looking for rubbish. Wet trousers arent particularly comfortable. Despite all this, Im still loving the rain.

Lavender

Aromatherapy is a topic I have always wanted to learn more about, I just havent found the right combination of time and money to do a course on the topic. I do know a few little bits a pieces Ive picked up here and there, two main things I know are that the scent of peppermint is good for when you wish to study and retain more information, and Lavender is good for when you need sleep as it helps to relax you. I love the smell of lavender and generally enjoy pruning the many lavender hedges we have at work. We mainly grow french lavender (you can tell by the large wings on top of the flower, spanish lavender doesnt have the large petals on top) and its getting to be a few years old now, so we have to watch it doesnt start going woody. The plant is one of those delightful "Grandma's Garden" plants, it is relatively easy to grow (full sun, mulch, average water requirements) and very rewarding with its blossoms. One of my favourite things to do, is brush against a lavender bush on a warm day and just enjoy the scent. Nice.

Pets For Life

I know this is quite a lovely looking duck, one would almost want one for a pet. Unfortunately people do have them as pets and when they decide that they cant keep little ducky anymore, they dump the poor bird in the park. This is not cool! They do not belong in a park, they are a domestic bird. Ive seen some domestic ducks die within a month of being released into a park. They have no idea how to survive, find food, etc. The other problem is when people see that one domestic duck is living in a park, then they think that giving it a friend will help it. So you end up with people dumping more ducks in the park. These ducks do not fly. They struggle to forage for food. Then when mating season comes round, any drakes dumped cause all sorts of problems to the wild female ducks, and its almost always the drakes that get dumped in the parks. So please, be a responsible pet owner. Pets are for life, they are a responsibility that shouldnt just be dropped beside the nearest lake because it no longer suits you or your situation. If you do have to rehome a pet, then please go through the proper channels to do so, because leaving your pet behind in a park is definitely not the answer.

Dub Step

A friend of mine who works at Office and Training on the Go (OTOTgo) gets excited when ever she sees a random piece of old technology. Somebodies cassette tape fell out the car, gotten run over and there were reels of tape everywhere. I can remember when I was a kid and this was a common thing, now all I see are banged up CDs. Seeing this last weekend kind of made me do a double take. Especially the fact that it has the title "Sick As Dub Step". So it is a recent tape, not quite the relic from the past I had imagined. Still makes me smile that somewhere out there, people still have tape decks in their cars and hopefully on their home stereos. I almost want to re-spool it and listen to whats on it, and I dont even like Dub Step!

So Funny

These guys are notoriously hard to get a decent photo of. They take off every time you get the picture to focus. This is a Kookaburra, largest bird in the Kingfisher Family. Their iconic laughter is actually a territorial call, warning other Kookaburras that this land is taken. Kookaburras are also a pest in this region of Australia, as they are an Eastern States bird. They were introduced into the South West of Western Australia in the 1890s and they have established themselves quite well. They live off a variety of large insects and small lizzards but arent that fussy. Kookaburras have adapted quite well to living alongside humans. They will happily steal any meat from picnics and BBQs. Key word is steal, please dont feed them, they are a pest. It still amuses me that when they do steal a sausage or something like that, they still bash it against a tree branch to kill the cooked meat.

Evolution FTW

Its kangaroo paw season again. These are some of the first ones out in the parks and it brightens my morning to see them along the rubbish run. I love kangaroo paws as they are very rewarding plants, putting on displays of unusual flowers that last a surprisingly long time. The major drawback to the flowers are the massive amounts of tiny little hairs they are covered in. When you go to prune off the spent flowers, you get covered in them and wind up itching for hours. As much as I hate the fur on the flowers, it serves a pretty important function for the plant. Ants! Ants are notorious little buggers in the horticultural world. They make gardeners lives hell by spreading troublesome insects like scale and aphids (they secrete a sweet substance the ants love to eat). They make plants lives hell as they are notorious nectar thieves. Reproduction is the most energy draining part of a plants life, so creating nectar to entice a bird to pollinate a flower is another drain on its energy store. If an ant crawls in and drinks the nectar before the bird, then the flower doesnt get pollinated. Kangaroo Paws evolved the little hairs to help prevent this. Have you ever had an ant crawl along your arm and see it struggle to walk due to the hairs growing out of your skin? The hairs on the kangaroo paw flower does the same thing. It makes it difficult for the ant to get to the nectar reservoir, so the ant goes in search of easier flowers to rob. Which means the the is a greater chance of the flower being pollinated. Win for the flower!