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The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul. ~ Alfred Austin

Sunday 28 July 2013

Flowers from Kings Park



I didn't mean to stay away from the blog for so long, but life got very busy for awhile there. We had school holidays, had two day trips to Albany and back for Megan's ball dress, a day trip to Perth for an MRI and a day trip to Bunbury for another cortisone injection in my shoulder. All really long days, plus on the days we didn't have to do all this driving I was unfortunately at work. So the school holidays weren't really much fun.

Anyway I have finally got around to uploading some of the photos I took of the flowers at Kings Park.
I was a bit too early to see the majority of wildflowers as the season usually starts towards the end of August I think. I was hoping to see some Kangaroo Paws, but missed out. I have been to Kings Park years ago during the peak wildflower season and it truly is well worth visiting. So below are just a handful of our gorgeous native species.
Enjoy!
 

The above two flowers are Verticordia Chrysantha
or commonly known as Featherflower.

I can't remember the name of this one, although I had an idea
it was related to the boronia.


A few different varieties of Banksia
I remember reading that there are 76 species of banksia nationally
and 62 of those are endemic to Western Australia.


I was fascinated with this plant, it was situated in a small roundabout
and was a fairly non descript looking bush apart from the
amazing flowers!
I couldn't get over how the flowers actually looked like a tiny bird
with a long beak feeding off the plant.
I have no idea what this plant is called, but I am trying to find out.

Just another pic of the gorgeous lemon scented gums.
These gums which are over a hundred years old line
Frazer Avenue and are a beautiful sight.
At certain times of the year they are lit up at night
sometimes with different coloured lights for awareness
about different causes.

Western Australia is so lucky to have the beautiful Kings Park botanic garden right on the doorstep of the city. Something to be treasured and enjoyed for sure.

Monday 8 July 2013

A Frosty Morning




We have been having cold nights/early mornings for awhile now, but this morning was really cold. I don't know yet what the official temperature was, but according to my car it was -2 at 7.30am. That's cold!
Just as well the brassica's don't mind the frost. These photos were taken about 8.30am. Everything was really white out there for quite awhile.

Megan and I left early this morning to drive out to a farm where Megan is starting work today for some of the school holidays which have just started. Megan is trying her hand at being a roustabout during shearing. I bet she will be really tired when I go out later to pick her up...and smelly and plain dirty. But she was really looking forward to it.

They keep promising us rain, but it never eventuates. We desperately need rain. I could definitely do without these freezing cold frosty mornings! Fingers crossed for some much needed rain tomorrow.

An Overnight Trip To The City Pt 1 (Thursday)

Last Thursday I took a trip up to the city. I had two specialist appointments on the Thursday and was staying overnight so that I could pick Megan up Friday afternoon at the completion of  the  Country Week Games, which had been held throughout the week. Megan had been competing in the girls basketball team. They made it through to the finals and ended up in fifth place overall.

It was a bright blue sky sunny kind of day. Not very warm though. I didn't really take any photos throughout the day of getting from one side of Perth to the other for the appointments and trying to find somewhere in between to eat. So all the photos below are taken between 5 - 5.30pm at Kings Park. Not the greatest time with the low light levels.

peak hour traffic on the freeway 
 
 



Narrows Bridge
 
This Boab Tree has a story to tell. Back in July 2008 it was transported on the back of a truck 3,200km from Telegraph Creek in our Kimberley region to it's final home at the botanic gardens in Kings Park. It is estimated to be around 750 years old and it was the longest land journey of a tree of this size in history. The boab had to be moved to make way for construction of a new bridge on the Great Northern Highway.

The holes or gouges you can see in the above photo are from when the boab was transported by being tied onto the back of the truck. The boab was featured on a gardening program on tv recently and they said that the tree is doing well and repairing itself, that is also what the signs erected near the boab say. I certainly hope this grand old boab tree is here for many many years to come. What a story this boab has!





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The entry onto the Lottery west Federation Walkway. This walkway consists of about 620 metres in length with a 52 metre glass and steel bridge suspended amongst the canopy of tall eucalyptus trees.
It was opened in August 2003 and is a popular attraction. 
 
 
 
 
Footbridge from the old Swan Brewery building which has been turned into upmarket apartments. The footbridge goes over the top of Mounts Bay Road to Jacob's Ladder. Not for the faint hearted! Jacob's Ladder is a steep 43 metre descent down 300 steps. One day when I am fit... 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fraser Avenue lined with lemon scented gums.
 
We are so lucky here in Perth to have Kings Park, it truly is a beautiful part of our city. The park has a total area of approximately 400.6 hectares, which is adjacent to our beautiful Swan River and only 1.5km from our central business district. Which makes it a popular place for all those city office workers during their lunch breaks.
 
About two thirds of the park is natural bushland which contains about 319 species of native plants and around eighty different species of birds. The rest of the park is cultivated gardens and grassy recreational areas, plus a couple of fantastic children's natural playgrounds. Kings Park is well worth a visit!
 
I will be back tomorrow with some photos taken on Friday.