What's in Flower at Home

 Being springtime, some of the flowers are in bloom particularly in the front garden, so I'm showing what is flowering now.

The front bushes are Dwarf Nanadina.  The colour of spring above and the colour of winter below.  

Banksia Rose (Rosa banksiae) originates from China.  It's named after Dorothea, Lady Banks, the wife of the famous English botanist Sir Joseph Banks (who also had the native Australian plant genus Banksia named after him.)

There are two colours, yellow and white, the yellow being the better at flowering. 

Above  

Lavender Lavandula.  

                    We have three lavenders in the front garden.                              

Below

Convolvulus (Calystegia) (Bindweed) grows well in Tasmanian gardens.  There is a phrase "convolvulus plant botanical game' most likely refers to "Granny, Jump out of Bed," a classic European children's folk game played with the flowers of the Convolvuls or Calystergia (binweed) plant families.  In Australia I've never heard of the phrase but found it when researching, so added it.

These 3 plants out the front are called Heuchera (Saxifragaceae), Coral Bells is a common name for them. So far they are doing well in the front garden.  

Above it the Banksia Rose, not really a rose but called one.  Below is a rose called Just Joey and has frilly petals and blooms and blooms.  This is it's first flower. Then 3 more came into bloom.

The above rose is a tall standard rose called Crepuscule and is out the back.

The rose above is called Seduction.  It's a good bloomer.

Above - Aquilegia or Granny Bonnet.  There are many colours available, I had a few but over time only the yellow has remained but it didn't flower last year.

Nasturtiums out the back and some are climbing and are at the base of a small budded rose and climb through it sometimes.  

All parts of the common garden nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) are completely edible, including the flowers, leaves, stems, and green seed pods.  They offer a bold, peppery flavour similar to watercress, radish, or mustard greens.  Many times when we went out to dinner these flowers and stems were put on our plate to eat which we did but doesn't seem to be fashionable these days. 

Port Douglas Beach

Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia was founded in 1877 as a bustling gold and tin port and later transformed into a world famous tropical resort village.

The beach is known as 4 mile beach. Many people I've heard of have stayed in Port Douglas such as Bill Clinton, Katie Perry, Pink, Mick Jagger and others. Several movies have been made in Port Douglas.

Christopher Skase made the town into a luxury resort town in the 1980's.  He died in Spain aged 52 in 2001.  Christopher was accused of corporate fraud, breaching company laws, and improperly using his position as chairman of the failed Quintex group which accumulated over 1 billion in debt and of course was an Australian and fled to Spain.  I remember all of that.

Our very first trip/holiday to mainland Australia in our car staying at Motels on the way up and back to and from Port Douglas was in 2000.  We discovered how large Australia was from Tasmania (home) to near the top and we had no idea how long it would take us before we left home.  We stayed a week in Port Douglas at a resort then drove around exploring the vast area. 

Travelled back down to Melbourne in Victoria and discovered we were far too early to catch the ferry as in days, so we headed to South Australia for a visit and stayed several days and explored, then back to Melbourne to catch the ferry home. 

 

4 mile beach and small cruise ship anchored.

These stone formation were and are made by people who stop to do so, we did one year on the way up there.  I recall there is a place to stop/park on a corner not too far from Port Douglas.

Port Douglas on the map is on the right side towards the top where the map narrows.

Cairns Botanical Indoor Garden

  We visited a Butterfly Conservatory in the Cairns Botanical Gardens up north (Australia). Plants sometimes grown indoors in that area were on show, but I didn't take many photos, these are some of them and a chart of the butterflies present and mostly not seen.  A tree in bloom outside too.  Something a little different to show you.

We didn't go any further into the Botanical Gardens even though it was winter it was rather warm at 35 deg C on that day a few years ago.

I borrowed a few butterfly photos.

Ulysses Butterfly

Cruiser Butterfly

Varied Eggfly Butterfly

Red Lacewing Butterfly

Anthurium Flamingo Flower

Spathiphyllum wallisii Peace Lily.

Rocks in Kununurra, NT

The photos of the some of the rock formations around a town called Kununurra in Western Australia in the tropics of Australia.  Kununurra is a very interesting place with much history attached to it. We've been there several times and it's a long way from home here in Launceston, Tasmania. The route in the photo is the shortest.

The striking red rock formations are made of quartz sandstone stained red by iron oxide around 360 million years old, dating back to the Devonian period, formed from ancient sand dunes, riverbeds, and windblows sand that compressed into solid stone.

The Devonian period is a major chapter of geological and biological evolution occurring from 419 to 359 million years ago, widely known globally and locally as the 'Age of Fishes'.

During this era, Australia was not an isolated island continent in its modern position; instead, it was part of the supercontinent GONDWANA and sat near the equator as a large peninsula before drifting southward. 

The first photo is typical of many such the same landscape you see in certain areas inland/outback in this area.

These two photos are of what is called Kelly's Knob was named after Father Kelly, a Catholic priest who was the first clergyman to visit the Kimberley district during the 1890's. This area all along the coast and inland is known as the Kimberley area.

The description term 'knob' refers to the prominent, rounded hill or small mountain that rises about 190 meters above the surrounding plain on the northern outskirts of Kununurra.

In the traditional Miriwoong language of the local Aboriginal custodians, the landmark is known as THEGOOWIYENG, reflecting thousands of years of connection to the land.  Dual naming signs now recognize both names of the site.

The view on top on Kelly's Knob is magic, you can see forever, the land below is flat.

Various rock formation around the area.

The red dotted area is the area of Kununurra.