Thursday 31 March 2016

'DECATUR APRICOT' DAY LILY

Daylily is the common name for plants of the genus Hemerocallis. Daylily cultivar flowers are highly diverse in colour and form, as a result of hybridisation efforts of gardening Hemerocallis enthusiasts and professional horticulturalists.

Thousands of registered cultivars are appreciated and studied by local and international Hemerocallis societies. is now placed in family Xanthorrhoeaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, but formerly was part of Liliaceae (which includes true lilies).

This is the 'Decatur Apricot' cultivar: A tropical coloured delight. Blooms are a beautiful coral pink with a deeper rose halo around a large yellow throat. Ruffled edges, fragrant.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

Wednesday 30 March 2016

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra.

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,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

Tuesday 29 March 2016

ABU SIMBEL, EGYPT

The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock temples at Abu Simbel (أبو سمبل in Arabic), a village in Nubia, southern Egypt, near the border with Sudan. They are situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about 230 km southwest of Aswan (about 300 km by road). The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments," which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan).

The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh. Their huge external rock relief figures have become iconic. The complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir. The relocation of the temples was necessary to prevent their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River.

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.



Friday 25 March 2016

FRIDAY GREENS #65 - YARRA VALLEY

Welcome to this meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!

GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.
At the Domaine Chandon winery in the Yarra Valley.
Please add your own Friday Greens entries using the Linky tool below:

Thursday 24 March 2016

'PERFUME DELIGHT' ROSE

Rosa 'Perfume Delight' was the winner of the All-America Rose Selection Award in 1974. And rightly so! This rich, deep rose-pink beauty produces elegant buds that open into large, fully double 12 cm blooms which are borne on long stems for cutting. The perfume is a strong, heady old damask rose fragrance. A vigorous, strong, upright continual blooming bush with dark green foliage.

We have this rose growing in our garden and with the early Autumn weather it is getting another flowering in before the cold weather sets in. It really is a delightful rose and the fragrance is heavenly!

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

Wednesday 23 March 2016

KATHERINE GORGE

Nitmiluk National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 244 km southeast of Darwin, around a series of gorges on the Katherine River and Edith Falls. Previously named Katherine Gorge National Park, its northern edge borders Kakadu National Park. The gorges and the surrounding landscape have great ceremonial significance to the local Jawoyn people, who are custodians of Nitmiluk National Park. In Jawoyn, Nitmiluk means "place of the cicada dreaming".

Katherine Gorge, a deep gorge carved through ancient sandstone by the Katherine River, is the central attraction of the park. Katherine Gorge is made up of thirteen gorges, with rapids and falls, and follow the Katherine River, which begins in Kakadu. During the Dry Season, roughly from April to October, the Katherine Gorge waters are placid in most spots and ideal for swimming and canoeing.

There may be freshwater crocodiles in most parts of the river, as they nest along the banks, but they are harmless to humans. Saltwater crocodiles regularly enter the river during the wet season, when the water levels are very high, and are subsequently removed and returned to the lower levels at the onset of the dry season. Thus, swimming in the Wet Season is prohibited, as crocodiles don't respond to swimmers' questioning them if they are fresh or saltwater ones. Cruises of various lengths go as far as the fifth gorge.

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,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.






Friday 18 March 2016

FRIDAY GREENS #64 - SHAMROCK MANDALA

Welcome to this meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!

GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.
I hope you enjoyed St Patrick's Day!
Please add your own Friday Greens entries using the Linky tool below:

Thursday 17 March 2016

YARROW

Achillea millefolium, commonly known as yarrow or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia, Europe, and North America. It has been introduced as a feed for live stock in places like New Zealand and Australia. However, it is a weed in those places and sometimes also in its native regions.

In New Mexico and southern Colorado, it is called plumajillo (Spanish for 'little feather') from its leaf shape and texture. In antiquity, yarrow was known as herba militaris, for its use in stanching the flow of blood from wounds. Other common names for this species include gordaldo, nosebleed plant, old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, thousand-leaf, and thousand-seal.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

Wednesday 16 March 2016

JAIPUR, INDIA

Jaipur is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan in Northern India. It was founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, after whom the city is named. The city today has a population of 3.1 million. Jaipur is known as the Pink City of India.

The city is unusual among pre-modern Indian cities in the regularity of its streets, and the division of the city into six sectors by broad streets 34 m wide. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east.

The Palace quarter encloses the Hawa Mahal palace complex, formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort, which was the residence of the King Sawai Jai Singh II, crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. The observatory, Jantar Mantar, is one of the World Heritage Sites. Included on the Golden Triangle tourist circuit, along with Delhi and Agra, Jaipur is an extremely popular tourist destination in Rajasthan and India.

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,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.




Friday 11 March 2016

FRIDAY GREENS #63 - SUNFLOWER BUD

Welcome to this meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN! 

GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

Please add your own Friday Greens entries using the Linky tool below:

Thursday 10 March 2016

PENTAS

Pentas lanceolata is an excellent small shrub for temperate to subtropical gardens, and belongs to the Rubiaceae family of plants and its common name is Egyptian Starcluster. It grows to around 1 m in height, with summer and autumn flowers like neat round bouquets of tiny stars, in colours of red, white, lavender, purple, cerise and various shades of pink. Some have flowers with a white stripes on the petals, and there is a cultivar known as 'Touch of Ice' that has interesting variegated leaves - it is not as robust as most of the others.

Pentas shrubs are at their best in sunny spots but flower reasonably well in part-shade - the red variety is particularly reliable in this regard and is useful for providing a glow of colour in gloomy spots. It is one of the best butterfly-attracting plants around. It blooms all summer long, even during the hottest weather, with large clusters of starry blooms that attract butterflies by the dozens as well as hummingbirds. The plant grows well in containers and in the ground -- and it can even make a good houseplant if you have enough light.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.




Friday 4 March 2016

FRIDAY GREENS #62 - ACORN

Welcome to this meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!
GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

acorn |ˈeɪkɔːn| noun
the fruit of the oak, a smooth oval nut in a rough cup-like base.
ORIGIN
Old English æcern, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aker, also to acre, later associated with oak and corn.

Please add your own Friday Greens entries using the Linky tool below:

Thursday 3 March 2016

WHITE COSMOS

Cosmos bipinnatus, commonly called the garden cosmos or Mexican aster, is a medium-sized flowering herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family, native to Mexico. The species and its varieties and cultivars are popular as an ornamental plant in temperate climate gardens. It naturalized in scattered locations across North America, South America, the West Indies, Italy, Australia, and Asia, where it is a garden escape (introduced species) and in some habitats becoming a weed.

Cosmos bipinnatus is considered a half-hardy annual, although plants may reappear via self-sowing for several years. The plant height varies from 0.61–1.22 m. The cultivated varieties appear in shades of pink and purple as well as white. Its foliage is finely cut into threadlike segments. When flowering, the plant can become top heavy. This problem is alleviated when grown in groups, as the bipinnate leaves interlock, and the colony supports itself.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.


Tuesday 1 March 2016

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, PERTH

Government House in Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, is the official residence of the Governor of Western Australia and was built between 1859 and 1864. The buildings and gardens are of exceptional heritage significance, being listed on the Western Australian Register of Heritage Places, classified by the National Trust of Australia (W.A.) and entered on the Register of the National Estate. The gardens are often open to the public, as is the House from time to time.

The building is a two storey mansion in the early Stuart or Jacobean Revival style set on 32,000 square metres of English gardens in the centre of the Perth business district, between St. Georges Terrace and the Swan River. The unique architectural character of the building is characterised by the use of stonework and bonded brickwork, incorporating square mullioned windows, decorated gables and ogival capped turrets. The attenuated gothic arcading at ground floor level derives from another form of Victorian Revival expression Fonthill Gothic. The building has 16 rooms on the ground floor and 25 on the first floor. According to the Western Australian Register of Heritage Places Assessment, Government House is a 'unique example of a Victorian Gentleman's residence' set in landscaped gardens with mature plantings and a number of commemorative trees.

This post is part of the Our World 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.