Friday Flowers: Aussie Flora

Last week I shared some more traditional flower photos taken in Canberra in late March. This week I want to share some of the close-ups of Aussie flora which I snapped. Once again I got the scheduling wrong: seems I wanted to schedule the date Aussie fashion and reversed the order. Sorry.

Canberra gets cold (by our standards) in winter and extremely hot in summer. Even though it’s the nation’s capital you don’t have to go far to see Aussie wildlife like kangaroos grazing the paddocks. Once you’re out of the (not very large) urban area it’s definitely rural.

The trees and plants can be quite different and often the gum trees have peeling bark dropping from their trunks.

The Australian War Memorial can be seen among the trees which are a signature of Canberra. As a created city, it has many parks and green spaces. This was the view from the apartment where my friend and I stayed…not bad is it?

Australian native trees mix it up with imported deciduous trees. By now the latter will be tinged with red.

I hope these flowers have brought happiness to your day wherever you are. 

Seen around Canberra

Having shared some images of flowers and flora in Canberra for last Friday’s Flowers and in the upcoming one, I thought I might include some photos I took around town. In an oops moment this post was supposed to have been scheduled for 17 April but I got it wrong. 

The Aboriginal tent embassy has been a feature of the laws in front of Old Parliament house for years. Hard to imagine other countries tolerating it, irrespective of the merits of the case.

The view from Old Parliament House looks towards the Australian War Memorial – a reminder of the cost to Australia of its participation in wars.

Simpson and his donkey rescuing the injured at Gallipoli is part of our iconic historiography.

And in reverse, looking towards Parliament from the War Memorial.

A “jolly jumbuck” (sheep) reclining in a squatter’s chair…but why?

A morning balloon flight over Lake Burley Griffin would be fun I think. The building on the right is the National Library of Australia…a researcher’s heaven.

Friday Flowers in the Nation’s Capital, Canberra

The last two weeks have been occupied with attending Congress 2015 in Canberra and a short holiday with my other half in Sydney. Because I’d been busy blogging about Congress and preparing for my presentations, the Friday Flowers posts on this blog went by the board.

On the grounds of Old Parliament House are the beautiful Rose Gardens.…what a lovely spot they provide for workers to have a tranquil lunch. I particularly like that the European roses are framed by tall gum (eucalyptus) trees. I imagine that in the right season the latticed gazebo/walkway would be smothered in purple wisteria flowers. However it was Autumn in Canberra, although the deciduous trees were just starting to change colour.

I rather liked this old lawn roller which became a piece of garden art – whether it’s in use or not.

And because it’s Canberra and we were on family history “business”, a visit to the Australian War Memorial is, as always, a “must visit”. This month marks the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli and the legend of the Anzacs so the final image today is a more sober sort of flower: the red poppies with which visitors mark the names of loved ones killed during Australia’s wars.

I hope these flowers have brought sunshine and happiness to your day.