Macro Monday 21 September
Tag: hippeastrum
Friday Floral in orange
This is October 2019
Oh my aren’t I tardy with the October wrap up? Lots of things have been happening – see some of the posts over the past week. I shan’t dwell on the most horrible situation I find myself in right now. I guess you have seen all about the fires in Australia, The north coast of NSW is where I live and the fires have been burning since early October.
I can’t really think straight as I haven’t slept well for a while now. Luckily and the end of October to early November my bestie and I had a brief holiday in Tasmania. I hadn’t been before so it was all new. Breathing air that wasn’t smoke laden was a blessing as was cool temperatures and even a bit of rain. That will be a post of its own later when I get around to it.
OK there isn’t all that many photos compared to previous “This is” posts but still grab a snack and a drink of your choice so you can stroll through my world in October.
I haven’t posted many photos of the Red-necked Wallabies that hang around my garden for a while. This little Joey has fun speeding around.
His Mum was keeping watch. Check out those lovely lashes.
I was out on a walk with my bestie and a friend when we came across some Eastern Grey Kangaroos resting in the shade. There was a female, a Joey and a male. When the male stood up we stopped and waited to see what they would do. Thankfully they group hopped over the fence in one bound and into the next paddock. When he stood up to his full height, he was about 2 meters tall. Look at those chest and arm muscles!! 
I may be in drought but every evening the frogs start up, not as many as usual. I love these tiny Eastern Dwarf Tree Frogs. Here he is again in a previous post that has the call as well.
Meet Bob, one of the funniest fish I have ever seen. He would swim away and then appear from the side of the tank, look at you and swim away. The Seahorse World where he lives is at Beauty Point in Tasmania.
A regular sight around the north coast are Black-shouldered Kites hovering over a field waiting for snack to make a move then drop like a stone.
Here is one some of the European readers will know. The European Goldfinch was introduced into SE Australia and Tasmania in the 1850’s.
A Forest Kingfisher waits patiently on the power lines in the late afternoon for his meal to move in the paddock below.
The little hanging pot bird bath is too small for the King Parrot but its good for drinking. The Hippeastrums will come later.
One very unseasonably hot day, the temperature reached 38C IN SPRING!!! Here is a young King Parrot and a Spangled Drongo discussing the day, “hot enough for ya”
Down at the waterhole on 3rd after a good fall of rain. Lovely to see a bit of water. The last rain since.
Going up into the mountains for a bit of a walk and see new places. The players of the mountains from my favourite spot, the Raspberry Lookout.
Another place near Washpool, (which is now on fire) The smoke is from the fires to the north in early October.
I love finding a leaf that has been skeletised (OK I made up that word according to spellcheck)
The new Spring flush of leaves on a Eucalypt.
The Casuarina and the blue of the distant hills. My bestie reckons it is like a Japanese print.
One of the new crops on the north coast is dryland rice.
Back at the waterhole on my place. The ferns in shelter spots are growing well. This is called a Five Fingered Jack or a Rough Maidenhair Fern.
While in the Gibraltar Ranges in Spring I was hoping to find some native flowers. Here is a Blue Dampiera.
Tiny False Lilac flowers
A Hairy Bush Pea with a Native Stingless Bee
Don’t the little Small Leaved Boronia look ever so sweet.
There were lots of White Paper Daisies along the road sides.
The flowers of a Flapjack Succulent
The first time this plant from my old mate Geoffs place has flowered and I can’t remember what it is
My besties Foxgloves flowered well this year
The start of my Hippeastrums 
More have started to bud up
Once the flowers arrive, so do the Native Stingless Bees
Look at the amount of pollen in the flowers. The Native Stingless Bees get coated in pollen
An olden Hibiscus at my besties attracts a bee or is it a wasp?
Casting a fine web, this spider waits underneath for lunch to drop in.
OK all is done. I had to include a photo of our Sun late in the afternoon on a fire day. A mixture of clouds and smoke.
I hope you enjoyed a stroll through my October. Did you have a favourite photo? I love to hear what you think so please drop me a line. I guess I need conversation
also for Su’s Changing Seasons
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Raindrops
Close Up
The word prompt from the Lens-Artists: Close up
Tiny Stingless Native Bees and a Hippeastrum flower
Now you saw how small the Stingless Native Bees are, here is one on a Bangalow Plalm flower filling its pollen sacs
Even an ant has to have a drink sometime
The beautiful face of a harmless Carpet Snake
One of the biggest flies I have here. Yes they bite.
A lovely Caper White Butterfly enjoying a bit of nectar from a Pentas flower
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In My Garden
The Ragtag Daily Prompt for Tuesday: Garden
Have a quick wander about my garden.
Blue-banded Bees like dropping in
When the pink Crocus flowers the Stingless Native Bees all come around
One of the wheelbarrow gardens with Hippeastrums
The Frangipanni flowers scent fills the air
The Bromiliads flower too
One of my favourite flowers – Cats Whiskers
The Dietis look great buit trhey are taking over in places in the garden
One of the many Hibiscus flowers
The Agapanthus put on a show around the garden borders
The garden is a place to relax
Even Long-necked Tortoise stroll through heading to the dam
Every now and then when working in the garden, I surprise a frog. The Broad-palmed Frog took a while to wake before hopping off
Lots of Bottlebrush flowers
The Pelagoniums add colour
There is always help in the garden
So many Grevilleas too
The Native Wisteria winds its way among the foliage
Always wear gloves and shoes as you never know who you might disturb. The Mouse Spider was rather fiesty
The Bullants let you know if you are getting too close to their nest
Every now and then another variety of fungus appears
The garden is a lovely place to raise a family
The fruit trees look wonderful in Spring
and of course the garden is home to lots and lots of birds from the smallest Honeyeater, the Scarlet Honeyeater
to the larger birds like the Satin Bowerbirds
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This is November 2018
My last post Time #6 was post number 1,000. I was hoping this one would be number 1,000 but it has taken a lot of time getting it together.
November was where Spring really came to life. Rain in the previous months led to life appearing, flowers brightened, the little native flowers, some only 10mm in diameter sprung up in the paddocks and in the bush. Birds who come to my place over Spring and Summer appeared, in some instances with their chicks.
This is another long post as I couldn’t cut back and also have had a couple of double ups. I have a some things left out as they deserve their own post.
So I recommend getting your drink of choice, perhaps a snack and if you are lucky, someone to bring refills. 😀
I have tried to arrange the photos in some sort of grouping. OK off we go………
Some days saw the storm clouds appear bring some destruction but also welcoming rain
The water plants on the dams are pleased that the water levels are up
The Bromiliads in the garden are sending their flower spikes up.
or just colouring while the flower appears in the watery centre
One of my favourite flowers, the Cats Whiskers flowered after the rain.
Day lilies flowered some with multiple buds
The Dietes, which are all through the garden, showed the borders with their white and purple flowers. If you look on the left side of the flower, you can see a little native bee.
The pink Pentas were planted two years ago and this year the flowers were prolific.
I thought these were the last of the Pandoreas but when I walked past today, more have appeared
I have a miniature Native Frangipanni in a pot at the front of the house. The warm breeze send a delightful scent into the house. The flowers start as white flowers and gradually turn yellow
Also in the garden is quite a big Native Frangipanni. It is constantly flowering through November. You can see the various stages of flowering from the white and yellow buds, white flowers and then the yellow flowers on their way out.
The Gardenias are looking good this year
Had to show the buds too
This Pentas is great for attracting insects
The original red Hibiscus that my Mother bought from her garden when the gardens were first planted many years ago. This was one of my Mums favourites
This is the bush still in the part of the place where gardens and the old house once were
Another Hibiscus that had a good flowering too.
The Grevilleas took a while to flower compared to other gardens around the area.
This Grevillea flower hangs downwards
The second year for the Ivanhoe Grevillea and the first flower
Two Grevilleas in the front garden that always have birds squabbling over the flowers
I love the pastel colours of this Grevillea
The Bottlebrush flowers add splashes of red throughout the garden
The Balsam flowers appear in many places in the garden. The just pop up
A Bottlebrush just starting to flower
One of my favourite small trees is Jacksonia. They add touches of yellow through the bush
Another small tree in an old part of the garden. The last few years it has taken to flower for months
A large tree in the garden, a Silky Oak, which is also one of the biggest Grevilleas
The Eucalypts are flowering following a prolonged dry spell. Some are flowering now and I haven’t seen them flower at this time of year before
A ground cover flower that I thought had gone but has reappeared. I had an orange version as well. I wonder if that one will come back?
The Duranta flowers are another flower with soft pastel colours
I planted this native in a rockery. The Red-necked Wallabies love it. The constant trimming looks like a benefit as it is covered with flowers this November
The flowers appear on soft stalks and the spots seem to darken too
The Hippeastrums looked wonderful this November. The wheelbarrow gardens looked a treat. There is a post about them earlier this month
The red Hippeastrums seemed very red this year
A tiny native flower about 10mm in diameter
You can see how small this native flower is by the grass and size of the leaves
I love clover flowers
A Calathea I have in a pot flowered this year with tiny flowers with delicate colour
This Native flower is called a Smooth Parrot Pea
Even the patch of Spider Plants flowered
With the flowers growing well the flower sellers at the market were selling bunches and most market days, sold out before the end.
Saw this car and just had to get a photo. It is a ute as well as a tad rusty
The clouds one day were quite spectacular
What a tiny Grasshopper on the Brunsfelsia flower
The Caper White Butterflies are migrating. This one is the first to arrive at my place
The Stingfless native Bees are loving collecting pollen from the orange Hippeastrum
A Crab Spider showed me his scary end when I disturbed its rest. Not a very big spider either
Meet Gus, my axolotl. He is always happy looking
A Noisy Friarbird snacking on a Honey Gem Grevillea
Noisy Friarbirds always have something to say
A female Figbird contemplates her next meal
Always singing around the house and in the forest, a Grey_shrike Thrush was looking through the window
Aren’t the Masked Lapwings strange looking. They are also called Plovers
but their eggs are quite pretty. They lay their eggs anywhere. These were on a walkway to the beach.
Peaceful Doves are always around the house
Royal Spoonbills were another of my quests to photograph
The ferry cable is as good as anywhere to hang out to dry
On a visit to a small degraded wetland I was amazed to see the amount of birds there. The flock of Hardhead Ducks was rather large
On another wetland, where the Royal Spoonbills were, some Pink-eared Ducks also were paddling around
Eurasian Coots paddled about looking for food
I was surprised to see a Crested Tern so far from the coast. A Purple Swamp Hen strode around the edge of the water
Aren’t Australasian Grebe chicks cute
A pacific Black Duck was closely followed by a young one
When you go calling on your girlfriend always take flowers
The Superb Fairy Wrens hopped around us at the lookout
Well the sun is going down so it’s time for me to go. Thanks for hanging around with me. I hope you enjoyed my November
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Wheelbarrow Gardens
As promised, here are some of the wheelbarrow gardens we have created over the years. I have also used this post to look at the resizing quality of the photos. I was unsure of using resizing. Let me know which you prefer and if it does make a difference to your eyes please.
The succulent barrow
The first of the Hippeastrum barrows – resized
The second Hippeastrum wheelbarrow garden
My favourite wheelbarrow garden at my besties
Hippeastrum – resize 2
What did you think of using old wheelbarrow as gardens?
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Yesterday in my garden
I was on the verandah and noticed all the colour in the garden. I grabbed my camera and walked around getting photos of the flowers. I even found a native Smooth Pea just popped up. This will be a huge post so I think I’ll do a slide show. I also haven’t included all the flowers as it would be too much. There are some flowers I have posted before as well. Maybe I’ll do another post if you want.
I am sure you will know some of the flowers but if you want to know about any of them, please ask. I will group them as best I can.
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Blending in or Standing out
The word prompt from the Lens-Artists: Blending in or Standing out
Blending in
or Standing out
