PARKLANDS SILHOUETTES

Watching the sun hover above the Western horizon and throwing the trees into silhouette. We love our parks here in Melbourne.

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

Add caption

MALLOW AT THE PARKLANDS

The Darebin Parklands are a great treasure trove of plants both native and exotic, some planted purposefully and others self-seeding and often dismissed as "weeds". We often walk there and find that many of these "weeds" are useful plants to pick and put on the table as salads, boiled greens, infusion bases or to be taken medicinally.

Just a word or two of caution! Unless you are sure that you have identified a plant correctly, do not pick it, much less consume it! Many poisonous plants are unfortunately similar in appearance to the ones that are nutritious and beneficial. Some plants may require special treatment in order to become edible (eg cooking rather eating them raw) and some plants belong to groups whose consumption is contraindicated in certain diseases (eg. kidney disease or gout). Do not eat plants that you do not recognise! Many parklands are now routinely sprayed with herbicides. Do not collect plants that have been sprayed! And finally, while nobody objects to you picking "weeds", be very careful not to disrupt the environment and do not damage the delicate native species. Do not collect from areas with protected flora!

Mallow is one of the plants we collect: Malva is a genus of about 25–30 species of herbaceous annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae (of which it is the type genus), one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Europe. The word "mallow" is derived from Old English "malwe", which was imported from Latin "malva", cognate with Ancient Greek μαλάχη (malakhē) meaning "mallow", both perhaps reflecting a Mediterranean term.

Malva sylvestris shown here is considered to be the type species for the genus. Known as common mallow to English speaking Europeans, it acquired the common names of cheeses, high mallow and tall mallow (mauve des bois by the French) as it migrated from its native home in Western Europe, North Africa and Asia through the English speaking world. M. sylvestris is a vigorously healthy plant with showy flowers of bright mauve-purple, with dark veins; a handsome plant, often standing 1 metre high and growing freely in fields, hedgerows and in fallow fields.

These mallows are edible as leaf vegetables and commonly foraged in the West. Known as ebegümeci in Turkish, it is used as vegetable in Turkey in various forms such as stuffing the leaves with bulgur or rice or using the boiled leaves as a side dish. Greeks use this as a leaf vegetable and as a stewing herb to be cooked together with spinach, silverbeet and leek as a filling for vegetable pies (hortópita).

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme,
and also part of the Food Friday meme.

FLOWERS AT THE MARKET

We often go to the Kingsbury Drive Community Market, which is held every Sunday between 9.00am and 1.00pm. Stall Holders sell a large variety of crafts, bric-a-brac, flowers, produce and plants. We are of course especially interested in the flowers and plants, of which there is always a good variety!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

EXHIBITION FOUNTAIN

The Exhibition Fountain by Josef Hochgurtel is of Portland cement built in 1880. Josef Hochgurtel was born in Cologne, Germany, and trained under Herr Fuels, who modelled the Cologne Cathedral. In creating the Exhibition Fountain, he was assisted by August Saupe, who had worked on similar pieces in Berlin, Dresden and Copenhagen. The colossal fountain stands some 10 metres high on the south side of the Royal Exhibition Building, outside the Great Hall. It was constructed for the first of Melbourne’s two grand international world fairs. The fountain’s visual elements were designed to display the young colony’s confidence and advancement, simultaneously signalling the purpose of world fairs to display the produce and industry of nations.

This post is 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.

STUDLEY PARK BOATHOUSE

The Studley Park Boathouse, established as the Burn's Boathouse, has been in continuous use since 1863. It is located in Yarra Bend Park, about 10 minutes drive from the City centre. This is the largest area of natural bushland within the Melbourne Metropolitan area. The park's popularity waned mid-century as motor cars expanded leisure choices. Since the early 1980s revegetation and the construction of the Main Yarra Trail have led to a resurgence of popularity.

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

AT THE BOATHOUSE

The Fairfield Boathouse was established in 1908 by John St Clair as a picnic, camping and refreshment room area and boat shed area. John St Clair was a piano tuner from Smith Street Fitzroy, with a vision. In 1923 the boathouse was raised by 12 feet to help minimise flood damage, a frequent threat to boathouses along the Yarra.

Boat and canoe carnivals and open air carnivals were common sights at Fairfield until the 1950’s. Boating popularity declined until finally the Fairfield Boathouse was closed in 1980 as it was declared unfit for human habitation.

In 1985 the boathouse was restored and re-opened. Meticulous work and an eye for detail was required for rebuilding. Even the gardens have been restored to encourage native birds. Today you can paddle through Inner Melbourne's only remaining natural bushland by hiring a boat, canoe or kayak. Or, at the Fairfield Park Boathouse you can enjoy informal outdoor dining where you can relax by the river in summer or sit by the cozy wood fires and admire the view in winter.

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

AT THE ZOO

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

ON THE STREET WHERE I LIVE

One evening, at sunset...

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

LILY POND, BOTANIC GARDENS

The Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is one of the world's leading botanic gardens and a centre of excellence for horticulture, science and education. The Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is dedicated to the conservation, display and enjoyment of plants and extends over two locations, Melbourne and Cranbourne, and incorporates the National Herbarium of Victoria and the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, which is based at The University of Melbourne.

Parts of the lake system at Melbourne Gardens are remnants of a natural water system that pre-dates European settlement of Melbourne. The lake system includes Central Lake, Fern Gully, Nymphaea Lily Lake, Ornamental Lake and the surrounding catchments. Ornamental Lake and Fern Gully are the remnants of a natural water system that pre-dated European settlement of Melbourne, and would have been a food source (particularly Short-finned eels) for local Aboriginal people. Today, the lake system provides habitat for an abundance of aquatic flora and fauna and is also an important part of the heritage landscape.

Members of the Nymphaceae family are commonly called water lilies and live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight large-flowered genera with about 70 species. The genus Nymphaea contains about 35 species in the Northern Hemisphere. The genus Victoria contains two species of giant water lilies endemic to South America.

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

HYBRID TEA ROSE 'TATJANA'

With the late Summer hot weather in Melbourne we are getting a fine showing of roses in our garden. This is the Rosa 'Tatjana', a fine deep red hybrid tea rose. Bred by Kordes, Germany, it is one of the most magnificent dark red roses which is very easily identified by a slash of white on one of the petals deep inside the bloom.

It is awesomely fragrant, extremely robust and healthy, flowering from season start to end continually.  The flowers last well in a vase where the exquisite velvet petals open slowly when picked in bud.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.