ROSA "EVELYN"

Rosa "Evelyn" from David Austin was bred from Tamora x Graham Thomas. The rose has the typical Austin cupped /rosette form. Evelyn is known for the beauty of the blooms, for their fragrance and for a marvellous display at flowering time. The plant has a neat vase shape at the base, then reaches both up and out. It grows to about two metres tall with some canes spreading about the same width. Basals are produced readily, and throw candelabras of bloom - bearing huge, lush, drooping panicles of soft pink blossoms. Older canes tend to bloom with single buds, or in twos and threes.

This is one of my favourite roses in our garden. It not only looks beautiful and blooms prolifically, but also has a fragrance which is strong, yet not cloying. I struck it from a little cutting I took from a friend's garden a couple of decades ago and despite three uprootings and re-plantings in different parts of the garden it is still going strong (my hobby is not uprooting and replanting rosebushes, rather we redesigned the garden a few times...).

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

H for HABITAT

habitat | ˈhabɪtat | noun
The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism: Wild chimps in their natural habitat.
• informal a person's usual or preferred surroundings.
ORIGIN
Late 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘it dwells’, from habitare

The Darebin Parklands provide a large variety of habitats for numerous native species of flora and fauna, as well as hosting some introduced and exotic species. The large area of natural woodland, wetland and pond environment as well as the Perennial Darebin Creek running through its midst are a valuable conservation resource for suburban Melbourne.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

FEDERATION SQUARE

Federation Square in Melbourne's CBD, is a mixed-use development in the inner city, covering an area of 3.2 hectares and centred on two major public spaces: Open squares (St. Paul's Court and The Square) and one covered (The Atrium), built on top of a concrete deck above busy railway lines. It is located at the intersection between Flinders Street and Swanston Street/St Kilda Road in Melbourne's Central Business District, adjacent to Melbourne's busiest railway station.

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.

INDUSTRIAL

A few blocks down from where we live is a light industrial area that has quite a few warehouses. After working hours the area can be quite deserted and the locked up buildings and their equipment can look a little strange, almost like the empty set of a movie...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

ST ANDREWS MARKET

St Andrews, a small town in Victoria, Australia, is 36 km north-east from Melbourne's city centre. St Andrews has a population of about 1600 people and is well known for its alternative market which is open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. It also has a hotel, general store, school, bakery, CFA, a community centre and of course St Andrew's Church.

Look at the small children in the photos and find in their faces, the wonder, amazement, innocence, apprehension and bemusement when they look at the strange world of the grown-ups!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

PUPPY LOVE

A wonderful Summer moment captured in the Parklands.

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

NEW DAY

Sunrise in summery Melbourne.

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

CHALICE VINE

Solandra is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. It is named after the Swedish naturalist Daniel C. Solander. The vines it contains are commonly known as Chalice Vines and are native to the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. They have very large flowers and glossy foliage.

Solandra grandiflora, more popularly known as Chalice Vine or Cup of Gold, is a perennial fast-growing climbing vine or liana. This vine quickly takes root and grabs onto the surrounding vegetation for support, the base stalk is thick, heavy and ropelike. These vines can easily exceed over 30 metres in length, each node on the branch will sprout tendrils and take root, giving the whole plant more stability and a larger root system to improve its ability to access essential nutrients: Water, minerals, sunlight. The leaves grow directly from the main stalk and side branches and are uniformly dark green, thick, with a smooth supple texture; they can grow as large as 15 cm in length, 7 cm wide and are oval shaped.

Chalice Vine is well known among gardeners, and is prized for its large ornamental flowers, which are yellow, grow up to 25 cm long, and are distinctly shaped like bells or chalices. The flowers will begin as bright, brilliant white and yellow with purple or brown stripes spiralling inside, and as the flower ages its colour will darken, ranging in shades from chartreuse, amber, lemon and golden yellow; hence the well earned common name, Cup of Gold. The flowers bloom in the evening or night and produce a strong sweet fragrance, which smells similar to coconut. In the wild they produce large yellow, white berries that contain many tiny seeds for future propagation, as the berries ripen they change colour from light yellow to deep red. However, when Solandra grandiflora is cultivated as an ornamental, it is usually grown from cuttings and the fruits are rarely if ever seen.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

G for GUMTREE

Eucalypts—often called gumtrees—are icons of the Australian flora. With more than 800 species they dominate the Australian landscape, forming forests, woodland and shrublands in all environments except the most arid deserts. Karri and Mountain ash form tall wet forests, mallee species grow in semi-arid regions and snow gums are stunted twisted trees of subalpine regions.

The Darebin Creek is made up many plant communities including River Red Gum Grassy Woodland, dominated by Eucalyptus camaldulensis. This important plant community consists of a scattering of large River Red Gums, smaller trees and shrubs in groups with grasses and wildflowers growing underneath. Grassy Woodlands have regional significance as they now occur in small fragmented areas within the Catchment.

Smaller plants such as grasses, climbers and shrubs are well suited to urban gardens, so why not grow indigenous plants in your own garden? Try native violets (Viola hederacea) to replace traditional violets and native lilies (Dianella species) to replace Agapanthus or Kidney Weed instead of a lawn and save water at the same time!

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

ON THE YARRA

Relaxing while rowing on the Yarra River is one of the pleasures of the Yarra Bend Park.

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