AUSTRALIAN KINGFISHERS

Kingfishers are to be found all over Australia, but ­predominantly in coastal regions. We have 10 native species, including the kookaburra, which is the largest. Kingfishers nest in tree hollows, in burrows in riverbanks and in termite nests. They feed on small animals, including fish, frogs, yabbies, snakes, insects and nestlings of other birds.

Covered in brilliant green, blue, turquoise and orange plumage, some kingfishers were once in danger of being hunted to extinction for their feathers. Despite their elaborate appearance, these stocky birds are tough, and hunt by darting upon prey in a flash of colour from branches above the river or forest floor. The kingfisher’s heavy beak is the perfect tool for killing victims quickly – they smack their hapless prey against tree branches before swallowing it whole.

The Azure Kingfisher (Ceyx [Alcedo] azurea) length, 17–19cm; wingspan, 25–29cm makes its home along the banks of coastal and inland rivers, swamps and mangroves. During breeding season, it lines its nest with fish bones and scales. Found along much of our northern and eastern seaboards, as well as Tasmania, this species hunts for small mammals, reptiles, fish and frogs.

This one was seen in the Darebin Parklands in suburban Melbourne. They are shy birds, usually keeping out of sight  and easily disturbed if encountered, flying off rapidly.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme,
and also part of the I'd Rather Be Birdin' meme.

SOUTH WHARF

South Wharf is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government areas are the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip. At the 2011 Census, South Wharf had a population of 66. South Wharf is a small inner suburb south west from Melbourne's CBD.

Its borders are the Yarra River to the north, Wurundjeri Way to the west, the West Gate Freeway and a small private car park bordering Ford Street and Munro Street, which is part of the City of Port Phillip, to the south and the former Port Melbourne railway line and Clarendon Street to the east.

Gazetted in 2008 and formerly part of the industrial and shipping area of Southbank, the renaming is part of a wider urban renewal strategy to link Southbank with the Melbourne Docklands.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme.

LEMON-SCENTED TEA TREE

Leptospermum petersonii (or Leptospermum citratum), lemon-scented teatree is a tall shrub to small tree, growing to a maximum of 5 metres which is cultivated as an ornamental and for essential oils. It naturally occurs near sclerophyll forest or rainforest, on sandy or rocky escarpments, on the east coast of Australia.

It has simple leaves, 20–40 mm long, with a distinctive, strong, lemony aroma. The flowers are white, followed by woody capsules. The leaves are distilled commercially for the essential oil which contains citronellal, citral, and pinene. It is grown in plantations in Kenya, Zaire, South Africa, Guatemala and Australia. The leaf of lemon-scented teatree is also used as a flavouring ingredient in boutique tea blends with standard black tea, Camelia sinensis.

The essential oil from L.petersonii inhibits the pathological fungi Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus. Lemon-scented teatree is well known as a garden plant, popular for its scent and attractiveness. It is fast growing and can be kept to shrub height by pruning. The ability to be pruned regularly also makes it well-suited for hedges, windbreaks and harvesting for distilled essential oils. Leptospermum liversidgei is also called "lemon-scented teatree" due to the presence of lemony essential oils.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

IVANHOE FLORIST SHOP

Ivanhoe Shopping Centre is an old-fashioned, strip-style shopping centre along Upper Heidelberg Rd in Ivanhoe. We enjoy shopping there, much more so than in the newer style shopping malls that all look the same and are full of boring shops, cranky staff and impolite, presumptuous security guards.

A beautiful florist shop we often frequent is the Jaclyn Roma Floral Designs at 168 Upper Heidelberg Rd. We enjoy going there because of the friendly staff, lovely fresh flowers and tasteful accessories. We went there today and the smell of Spring greeted us as soon as we walked in. Here are some of the photos we took there.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

SHANGHAI, CHINA

Shanghai is one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of China and the most populous city in the world, with a population of more than 24 million as of 2017. It is a global financial centre and transport hub, with the world's busiest container port. Located in the Yangtze River Delta, it sits on the south edge of the estuary of the Yangtze in the middle portion of the East China coast. The municipality borders the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the north, south and west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea.

As a major administrative, shipping and trading city, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to trade and recognition of its favourable port location and economic potential. The city was one of five treaty ports forced open to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the First Opium War. The subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking and 1844 Treaty of Whampoa allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement and the French Concession.

The city then flourished as a centre of commerce between China and other parts of the world (predominantly the Occident), and became the primary financial hub of the Asia-Pacific region in the 1930s. However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, trade was limited to other socialist countries, and the city's global influence declined. In the 1990s, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city.

It has since re-emerged as a hub for international trade and finance; it is the home of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, one of the world's largest by market capitalization. Shanghai has been described as the "showpiece" of the booming economy of mainland China; renowned for its Lujiazui skyline, and museums and historic buildings, such as those along The Bund, as well as the City God Temple and the Yu Garden.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SEWING DAY

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #57 - REMNANT

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately!

A stone from earlier times (1880s) inscribed with a half-effaced few lines of text. This is from the Yarra Bend Park in Melbourne, Australia. Discernible words are: "Commissioner", "Henry Hollard (?)", "Captain", "Johnstone" (?). No idea what it is or from which structure it is from...

This post is part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

PETS

In 2013 there were estimated to be more than 25 million pets in Australia, with nearly 5 million of Australia's 7.6 million households home to pets. At 63%, Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world.

Dogs are the most common pet, with 39% of households owning a dog. There are estimated to be 4.2 million pet dogs in Australia; 19 dogs for every 100 people. Cats are the second most common pet, with 29% of households owning a cat. There are estimated to be 3.3 million pet cats in Australia; 15 cats for every 100 people.

Fish are the most numerous pet type, with a total population of 10.7 million. The number of birds is estimated to be 4.8 million, with a further 2.2 million other pets including small mammals and reptiles. Almost half (48%) of all Australians would like to either get a pet or get another pet. More than 1.1 million Australian households (14.9%) were planning to get a companion animals in 2013.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

IN MY NEIGHBOURHOOD

A newly built house in the "Neo-Edwardian" style. However, the sky steals the show!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

ROSA 'FIREFIGHTER'

Bred by Joseph Orard prior to 1998 and introduced to Australia in 2009 is Rosa 'Firefighter', a glorious rose with tall single stems of the most highly fragrant dark red rose which is suitable to work with in floral art and yet easy to grow in the open garden will be a joy to all rose gardeners. An added bonus is that it has few thorns. The name of this rose, 'Firefighter' honours the work our firefighters do here in Australia and as it states on the plant label: “This rose is so named as to remember those men and women who risk their lives daily to protect ours”.

The generally sunny, dry and hot conditions of the Australian garden are particularly well suited to planting roses and roses flourish in our gardens when you take measures to provide the following:

1) Watering: Roses are very deep rooted plants and require one good, deep soaking at least every 10 days in hot and dry conditions;

2) Feeding: Because roses flower throughout all but the Winter season, they should be regularly fertilised with quality (preferably organic) fertiliser which contains a balance of major nutrients (NPK) and trace elements. The fertiliser should be applied at least once a month – small amount often – with fortnightly applications of liquid seaweed over the foliage;

3) Pruning: During Winter, 70% of the rose plant should be pruned and all old wood removed back to the crown and the bush pruned to shape. During the flowering seasons, 25% of all flowering stems should be cut back after flowering to encourage strong re-growth.

4) Mulching: Particular attention to application of lucerne or pea straw directly around the root-zone of each rose will enhance the overall health of the rose and then the whole bed should be mulched to 75mm with any other mulch medium available.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.