INTERSECTION

Evening falls in the suburbs...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme.

TOWER AT THE SYSTEM GARDEN

The System Garden was the creation of Frederick McCoy, the first professor of Natural Science at the University of Melbourne. Begun in 1856, it originally comprised a series of concentric garden beds, organised according to plant classification. The only remnant from that time is the tower which formed the centre of an octagonal glasshouse.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 137 - WHITE LEPTOSPERMUM

White's Tea-Tree, Leptospermum whitei, is a sturdy, often multi-stemmed shrub reaching up to 5m in height (under ideal conditions). Its preferred habitat are margins of coastal swamp forests and tidal waterways (here growing on the banks of the Werribee River). Young bark is mid-brown in colour turning grey with age and has a rough fibrous texture where old bark is shedding in papery short strips.

Flowers appear in tight clusters over spring to early summer featuring five bright white and obovate shaped petals characteristic for the Leptospermum genus. They measure up to 12 mm in diameter when fully opened. Young green stems are covered in short fine hair. Simple leaves with an alternate arrangement are; up to 3 cm in length, elliptic in shape with entire margins, hairless, dark green, rather dull on top, thick with a stiff texture. Venation is obscure except for mid vein. Leaf apex is acute ending in a blunt point, base shape is cuneate. The petiole is nearly non existent at 1 -2 mm in length. The species is named after Cyril Tenison White (1890-1950), botanist.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

WERRIBEE RIVER SERENITY

The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the plain West of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip. A linear park follows the Werribee River along much of its course. In total the Werribee River completes a journey of approximately 110 kilometres.

This is a serene spot in the middle of Melbourne's suburbia. It is wonderful to have such beautiful spots so near the centre of a city of five million people!

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

TOWN HALL IN TRICOLOUR

Some of Melbourne's most iconic buildings were lit up in red, white and blue on Saturday, in solidarity with France following the Paris terror attacks. The Arts Centre’s spire and the National Gallery of Victoria, the MCG and the Town Hall were illuminated in the colours of the French flag. Melbourne is echoing international cities including New York, which lit the One World Trade Centre blue, white and red to mark the horrific events that left at least 130 people dead in Paris on November 13th.

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

KNITTERS PARADISE

A couple of weeks ago we were in Brunswick and by chance we wandered into the Town Hall, where a Machine Knitters exhibition and fair was in session. I know nothing about knitting and have never had the inclination to learn about it, but I thought that getting a machine to do what seems to me to be a rather boring occupation, is pretty neat (and yes, OK, knitters out there, forgive me! I realise that there are many people who actually enjoy it).

Nevertheless it was interesting to walk through, talk to some passionate people, and of course, to take some photos. And knitters, keep on knitting, whether by machine or by hand!

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

NESTING TIME 2

Readers of this blog may remember a couple of weeks ago I reported that we had blackbirds nesting in our garden. I now complete this post by showing you the fledglings flying away from the nest under the watchful eye of the father...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

SUNSET MOOD

South Wharf on the southern bank of the Yarra is surrounded by many shopping, dining and conference facilities. The new South Wharf Promenade is home to some of Melbourne’s most exciting hospitality talent, housed in lovingly restored heritage cargo sheds. These cafés and restaurants boast one of the most beautiful waterside views in Melbourne, all within easy reach of the central city.

South Wharf’s striking pedestrian "Seafarers' Bridge" is fittingly named to reflect Melbourne’s rich maritime history. Officially named in late-2009, the bridge is already popular with walkers and bike riders accessing Melbourne’s world-class Convention Centre and travelling to and from Docklands. This bridge forms a vital connection between the city’s waterfront and the river-front.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme.

YARRA BEND PLANE SPOTTING

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 Park provides a great open space for walking, bike riding, riverside cafes, golf, boating, BBQs, picnicking and a host of other leisure activities. The plane spotted was incidental...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 136 - PHILADELPHUS

Philadelphus, (the mock-orange) is a genus of about 60 species of shrubs from 1 to 6 m tall, native to North America, Central America, Asia and (locally) in southeast Europe. They are named "mock-orange" in reference to their flowers, which in wild species look somewhat similar to those of oranges and lemons (Citrus) at first glance, and smell of orange flowers and jasmine (Jasminum). Philadelphus is named after an ancient Greek king of Egypt, Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

Most Philadelphus are deciduous but a few species from the south of the genus' range are evergreen. The leaves are opposite, simple, with serrated margins, from 1 to 14 cm long. The flowers are white, with four petals and sepals, 1–4 cm diameter, and commonly (but not in all species) sweetly scented. The fruit is a small capsule, containing numerous small seeds. The bark is thin and flaky, finely shredding in longitudinal strips.

For a long time, Philadelphus coronarius was the only mock-orange of gardens, though some adventurous Americans grew the native P. inodorus that Mark Catesby had discovered growing on the banks of the Savannah River; it appeared in Lady Skipwith's garden lists and George Washington ordered some from Bartram in 1792. Mock-oranges are popular shrubs in parks and gardens, grown for their reliable display of late spring flowers; the scented species are particularly valued. In addition to the species, there are numerous garden origin hybrids and cultivars available, selected for doubleness and large flowers, with some compromise as to scent.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.