SUMMER AFTERNOON

A walk in the afternoon sunlight, on this last day of Summer...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

CAT NEXT DOOR

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

SUNRISE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

SNAIL VINE

Vigna caracalla is a leguminous vine from the family Fabaceae, originating in tropical South America and Central America. The species is named "caracalla", from the Latin for "hood or cloak", referring to the hooded shape of the open flowers. Some people suggest that this specific meaning comes from Caracas in Venezuela, but this is probably a misapprehension.

This perennial vine has fragrant flowers reminiscent of hyacinths. The buds, especially have a distinctive curled shape, giving rise to the common names "corkscrew vine", "snail vine", "snail creeper", or "snail bean". This vine is hardy in zones 9 and above, liking full sun and consistently damp soil. It prefers high heat and humidity and can become invasive if these conditions are met. In colder zones, it does well in a pot if it is overwintered inside.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

YARRA BEND PARK

Yarra Bend Park has been one of Melbourne’s largest expanses of inner suburban parkland for nearly 150 years. Yarra Bend Park and neighbouring Studley Park were reserved in 1877. Both park areas and several reserves were combined in 1929 to create one large park. The combined area became known as Yarra Bend National Park despite never being raised to formal national park status.

During the 1930’s additions included picnic and sporting grounds, toilet facilities and a public golf course. The Yarra Bend Golf Club House, officially opened in May 1936, is an original example of American ‘Country Club’ type architecture. The Park provides a great open space for walking, bike riding, riverside cafes, golf, boating, BBQs, picnicking and a host of other leisure activities.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

SMILE!

In one of Melbourne's famous alleys in the CBD.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

FRUITFUL

Late Summer means fruiting time for many of the trees and bushes around Melbourne. Hardly matters that some of these are not edible,  they still look luscious!  

Clockwise from upper left: Green olives; persimmons; lilly-pilly; black olives; pittosporum; haws.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

SKYSCRAPERS

Skyscrapers in Melbourne City.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

NEIGHBOUR'S CAT

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

CITY SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

SUMMER FLOWERS

A beautiful Summer's evening in our garden today, and a pleasure to walk amongst the fragrant, colourful flowers.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

Pelargonium

Dragon Wing Begonia

Tuberose

Carnation

Climbing rose

Zinnia

Four'o'clocks

Rhapsody in Blue rose

Alstroemeria

LACEBARK TREE PODS

Brachychiton discolor in the Malvaceae family (formerly placed in the Sterculiaceae family), is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It grows in drier rainforest areas. Scattered from Paterson, New South Wales (32° S) to Mackay, Queensland (21° S). There is also an isolated community of these trees at Cape York Peninsula. And they have been known to grow in southern areas of California. Common names include lacebark tree, lace kurrajong, pink kurrajong, scrub bottle tree, white kurrajong, hat tree and sycamore. (see its flowers here).

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

MONTSALVAT

Montsalvat is an artist's colony in Eltham established in 1934, and home to over a dozen buildings set amongst richly established gardens.  The colony of Montsalvat has a detailed history that reflects the life of founder and artist Justus Jörgensen, his friends and family. Its buildings and gardens are stepped in the art and culture of Melbourne and its surroundings. 

Architecturally, Montsalvat has much in common with a simple French village in Provence with a mix of rustic architectural styles.   Justus Jörgensen was an architect and as a former student of Max Meldrum had spent many happy hours painting around Eltham. In 1934 Jörgensen purchased land and with his friends and students commenced the buildings that became Montsalvat, 26kms from Melbourne.

Presently, a few artists and craftspeople live and work there, but the complex also houses galleries and a function centre.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SUMMER GARDEN

We are treading towards the end of our Summer, and Autumn has already knocked meekly on our door. However, the garden is still full of flowers and there is lots of green everywhere, still...

(Top, L-R: Evening primrose; daisy; hibiscus; lantana. Bottom, R-L: Potato bush; sunflower; portulaca; aster).

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

BY THE CREEK

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

SPOTTED DOVE

Since the Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) was introduced into Australia from Asia in the 1860s, they have been very successful, expanding their range greatly to occur right along the east coast, as well as in parts of South Australia and Western Australia.

The Spotted Dove builds its nest from a few fine twigs. It is so frail that the eggs are often visible from below, and they often fall out. Being so precarious, it seems the eggs must seldom hatch successfully and nestlings seldom survive to fledge, but this is not so.

Spotted Doves are mostly light brown above, with darker centres to the feathers of the back and wings. The head is grey, and the neck and underparts are grey-brown, tinged with pink. In flight the white-tipped tail is clearly seen. The distinguishing feature is the large black collar on the base of the hind-neck, which has many white spots. Sexes are similar in plumage. Young Spotted Doves are similar to adults, but have a mostly dark grey collar instead of black and white.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

CHERVIL

Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium), sometimes called garden chervil to distinguish it from similar plants also called chervil, or French parsley, is a delicate annual herb related to parsley. It is commonly used to season mild-flavoured dishes and is a constituent of the French herb mixture fines herbes.

A member of the Apiaceae family, chervil is native to the Caucasus but was spread by the Romans through most of Europe, where it is now naturalised. The plants grow to 40–70 cm, with tripinnate leaves that may be curly. The small white flowers form small umbels, 2.54–5 cm across. The fruit is about 1 cm long, oblong-ovoid with a slender, ridged beak.

Chervil is used, particularly in France, to season poultry, seafood, young spring vegetables (such as carrots), soups, and sauces. More delicate than parsley, it has a faint taste of liquorice or aniseed. Chervil is one of the four traditional French fines herbes, along with tarragon, chives, and parsley, which are essential to French cooking. Unlike the more pungent, robust herbs, thyme, rosemary, etc., which can take prolonged cooking, the fines herbes are added at the last minute, to salads, omelettes, and soups.

Chervil has had various uses in folk medicine. It was claimed to be useful as a digestive aid, for lowering high blood pressure, and, infused with vinegar, for curing hiccups. Besides its digestive properties, it is used as a mild stimulant. Chervil has also been implicated in “strimmer dermatitis”, or phytophotodermatitis, due to spray from weed trimmers and other forms of contact. Other plants in the family Apiaceae can have similar effects.

Transplanting chervil can be difficult, due to the long taproot. It prefers a cool and moist location; otherwise, it rapidly goes to seed (also known as bolting). It is usually grown as a cool-season crop, like lettuce, and should be planted in early spring and late fall or in a winter greenhouse. Regular harvesting of leaves also helps to prevent bolting. If plants bolt despite precautions, the plant can be periodically re-sown throughout the growing season, thus producing fresh plants as older plants bolt and go out of production. According to some, slugs are attracted to chervil and the plant is sometimes used to bait them.

In the language of flowers, chervil sprigs mean “sincerity; fine feelings”, while a flowerhead means “I appreciate your fine character”.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

"THE NEST"

"The Nest"  is a sculpture in the Darebin Parklands, which was made by artists David Bell and Gary Tippett from recycled materials. It is a $75,000 public art sculpture installed in October 2012 in Darebin Parklands and has divided residents, with some saying the egg-shaped work looks out of place in bushland. The artwork itself has been praised by residents, but some have  criticised the location chosen.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

MELBOURNE LANE

And we try to live as normally as possible with COVID-19 still around...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WALK

Interesting what one may come across when walking around the neighbourhood...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

SUMMER RAIN

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

HAPPY DOG

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

TRAIN STATION

The Fairfield Train Station in my neighbourhood.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

JACOBINIA

A member of the Acanthaceae family, the Brazilian plume flower or jacobinia (Justicia carnea) is a shade-loving, soft-wooded shrub (ht 1.5m) with large, lush leaves. Thick plumes of white, pale pink or deep pink tubular flowers appear in regular flushes from early summer to late autumn. A form with dark purplish underleaves is known as 'Radiant' - perhaps more correctly should be called 'Huntington Form'.

Justicia carnea needs hard pruning in late winter, and regular dead-heading during summer will help to promote new blooms. It will also flourish in sunny spots but is useful for shaded sites, as are so many of the Acanthaceae family, which do so well in temperate climates. Whilst it will stand neglect, it responds well to feeding and watering. It is easily propagated from cuttings. It is a good companion to hydrangeas, Plectranthus species, ferns and camellias. The white form looks pretty with silver-leaved companions, such as Plectranthus argentatus and Pilea cadierei. 

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

BUTTERFLY

A cabbage small white butterfly (Pieris rapae) feeding on Chinese plumbago flowers (Ceratostigma willmottianum).

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

MELBOURNE IN THE SUN

Today is the 27th consecutive day where Victoria has recorded no new locally acquired cases of coronavirus in the community. There were no new deaths and the state’s total death toll stands at 820. Restrictions have eased and we are now living a "Covid-normal" existence, with standard but well-observed restrictions in enclosed public spaces and large gatherings.

Melburnians are enjoying the Summer weather and a walk in the City reminds us how many things we were taking for granted in the days before Covid...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.