AT SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

AT PRESTON MARKET

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

END OF SUMMER

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.

GIPPSLAND DAY-TRIP

Gippsland is an economic rural region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-eastern part of the state. It covers an area of 41,556 square kilometres, and lies to the east of the eastern suburbs of Greater Melbourne, to the north of Bass Strait, to the west of the Tasman Sea, to the south of the Black-Allan Line that marks part of the Victorian/New South Wales border, and to the east and southeast of the Great Dividing Range that lies within the Hume region and the Victorian Alps. Gippsland is generally broken down into the East Gippsland, South Gippsland, West Gippsland, and the Latrobe Valley statistical divisions.

As at the 2016 Australian census, Gippsland had a population of 271,266, with the principal population centres of the region, in descending order of population, being Traralgon, Moe, Warragul, Morwell, Sale, Bairnsdale, Drouin, Leongatha, and Phillip Island. Gippsland is best known for its primary production such as mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations— Phillip Island, Wilsons Promontory, the Gippsland Lakes, Walhalla, the Baw Baw Plateau, and the Strzelecki Ranges.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

CHANGE OF SEASON

As Summer turns to Autumn...

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

AT THE PARKLANDS

Mining the archives I cam across this 18-year-old photo of the Darebin Parklands. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the place has hardly changed in the intervening years. This is a boon in times of great changes, encroaching urbanisation and lessening of green space in our megalopolis. Especially so, as this green space is so close to the centre of our city (≈6.5 km).

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

SWALLOWTAIL

Papilio anactus, the dainty swallowtail, or small citrus butterfly is a medium-sized butterfly from the family Papilionidae, that is endemic to Australia. For protection against predators, this non-poisonous butterfly mimics the poisonous male Cressida cressida, another swallowtail butterfly that obtains its toxic properties through its host plant, the Dutchman's pipe.

Papilio anactus is endemic to Australia. It was originally only present in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, but due to the growing of citrus, a larval food plant of this species, in orchards, the species spread to South Australia in the late 1920s. Papilio anactus is not present on Kangaroo Island or elsewhere in Australia, as there are currently too few citrus trees. It also occurs on New Caledonia. There, it may be an introduced species or a vagrant.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

SUNRISE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

OSTEOSPERMUM

Osteospermum the daisybushes is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Calenduleae, one of the smaller tribes of the sunflower/daisy family Asteraceae. There are about 50 species, native to Africa, 35 species in southern Africa, and the southwestern Arabian Peninsula. They are half-hardy perennials or sub-shrubs. Therefore they do not survive outdoor wintry conditions, but there is still a wide range of hardiness.

Osteospermum are popular in cultivation, where they are frequently used in summer bedding schemes in parks and gardens. Numerous hybrids and cultivars have been grown with a wide range of tropical colours. Yellow cultivars tend to have a yellow center (sometimes off-white). Plants prefer a warm and sunny position and rich soil, although they tolerate poor soil, salt or drought well.

Modern cultivars flower continuously when watered and fertilised well, and dead-heading is not necessary, because they do not set seed easily. If planted in a container, soil should be prevented from drying out completely. If they do, the plants will go into "sleep mode" and survive the period of drought, but they will abort their flower buds and not easily come back into flower. Moreover, roots are relatively susceptible to rotting if watered too profusely after the dry period.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

FUTURE MELBOURNE

Australia sits atop one of the fastest-moving tectonic plates in the world. We move about seven centimetres north-east every year. So by 2066, we shall have moved 300 centimetres northward. Add to that effects of climate change with a warmer and possibly wetter climate in Victoria, we should be feeling positively subtropical by that time.

Victoria's current population of 6.3 million is projected to: Increase by between 1.0% and 1.7% per year, slightly higher than the average annual growth rate projected for Australia, and reach a population of between 10.1 million and 14.5 million by 2066 Most of Victoria's growth is projected to occur in Greater Melbourne. Melbourne is projected to: Increase from 77% of the state's population in 2017 to 79% in 2027 have between 5.9 million and 6.2 million by 2027; to about 11.5 million in 2066 (Australian Bureau of Statistics figure).

Here is some impressions of what Melbourne City could look like in 2066, with a bit of help from Photoshop and AI.

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.