Mickey Mouse ears trees

Sydney has most of its power lines and cables above ground.

Power companies, local councils .... someone... is responsible for trimming the street trees so that they don't interfere with the cables.

This can result in some weirdly shaped shrubs and trees, as they trim for convenience, not for aesthetics. Very often the middle is cut out like these callistemons (bottlebrushes) in Slade Road, Bardwell Park.

I had to stop for a photo as I drove along, cos a play of light made this tree look like an old-fashioned Mickey Mouse ears hat! I didn't quite capture the same light with the iPhone camera....so better use some imagination!

Sunny winter afternoon

Along the Cooks River at Tempe . A stand of beautiful Port Jackson fig trees.

Sally and Ann's Excellent Adventure 33: Festive Melaleucas

In Melaleuca St, Bungan Head, a stand of melaleucas (paperbark trees) hosts some Christmas decorations and kids' play equipment.

There's even a rung on the ladder marked out for me!

Crazy tree

I can't remember what this tree is called. Any help gratefully received!

Illawarra Flame Tree

Photos taken 29 Nov 2012 on iPhone 4S

A contrast to the lavendar of November jacarandas is the native Illawarra flame tree. They are often planted alongside each other. This specimen is in Arncliffe Park.

The Illawarra flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius)  is native to subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia. Sometimes it is called a Kurrajong, like other brachychitons of which it is a relative.
The flowers are bell-shaped, and it has pod-like fruit, which contain masses of thin bristles and seeds. The seeds were eaten by Aborigines after toasting.

Sydney - November - Jacaranda

Jacarandas bloom all over Sydney; the petals fall to form carpets of lavender, which then turn to slippery brown sludge as the inevitable November storms make themselves known. November in Sydney is:

kids doing their final school exams;
summer trying to put in an appearance - hot, sunny days of 34 degrees and cool, cludy days of barely 20;
thunderstorms;
christmas making its presence known in shops;
early pre-christmas office parties, and family get-togethers;
putting away the doona and those nights where you can't decide it you're hot or cold;
all the blue flowers - jacarandas, agapanthus, iris, plumbago....
my birthday



Autumn ----> winter colour

In much of the world, the official change of season is at the equinoxes and solstices. In Australia, seasons change "officially" by calendar date: Spring - 1 September; Summer - 1 December; Autumn - 1 March; Winter - 1 June. Of course, plants don't read calendars, and late autumn colour is still very present even when the official designation is winter. These were taken last weekend. Indigenous seasons are another thing again, and vary from place to place.

Autumn in Chalmers St, Redfern

Beautiful autumn colour in Chalmers St, Redfern.

Most native to Sydney foliage is evergreen, but these street plantings of deciduous trees add lots of colour and enable winter sun through.

Purists mightn't like them, but I love it!

Any opinions?

Jacaranda time

November is jacaranda blossom time in Sydney, and I feature a jacaranda shot every year. Above: Outside Sydney Town Hall, and Left; next door at St Andrews Cathedral.

See previous jacaranda shots here.

Spring leaf

The new leaves of spring look fresh and green. Sydney is abundantly planted with the species London Plane (Platanus x hybrida). It tolerates pollution, neglect, vandalism and poor soils and in return it provides plenty of summer shade and in winter a deciduous canopy that allows the sun through. Some people experience allergic reactions to their pollen and fibres in September. Luckily, I don't and I love them!

Tree down!

Last Sunday, in high winds, one of the beautiful trees in the avenue of trees in Arncliffe Park came down. I got talking to workers waiting for equipment to arrive to cut and remove it, who insisted on taking my photo! It was termite-ridden, and the other trees in the avenue will be checked out too; reportedly some are "ready to go". They were planted in 1904.

Queensland Bottle Tree

Brachychiton rupestris : Queensland bottle tree, Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

From Southeastern Queensland, restricted to more fertile soils. The starchy roots and seeds were eaten by Aborigines.

Palm trees, Redfern Park

And once more

Jacaranda season once more in Sydney. Every year I feature a different tree. This one is in the car park of my local fruit market.

Ashfield Park palms

Ashfield Park is one of Sydney's traditionally laid out parks, commonly taking up space where two streets would normally be. When these suburbs were laid out in the 19th century, a park was usually provided.

For the next few days we'll see what we can discover in this park. First stop will be along the avenue at that sculpture just visible on the left in the middle distance.

I've already shown some scenes from this park in earlier days, so let's linger a little longer.

Callistemon viminalis 'Captain Cook' - my bottlebrush

Here's the bottlebrush I can see from my kitchen. It's in full bloom through October and November.

Genus: Callistemon
Family: Myrtaceae
Natural distribution: North-eastern New South Wales and eastern Queensland

Name:

Callistemon - from the Greek, kallistos, most beautiful and stema, a stamen;
viminalis - from the Latin, vimen, a long flexible shoot or osier.

Snowflakes

If you stand just outside my back door at the moment, you can hear the drone of hundreds of bees, as they pollinate the blossoms on the mandarin tree, making us a new crop for next winter.
Come June/July and the fruit drop all over the yard, but for the moment, it's blossom that is falling like snowflakes all over the garden, path, and washing on the line. There's also still a few fruit from the season just past clinging to the tree.

Dusk

Walking home through the park at dusk, clouds gathering before a short storm....I spied the sunset glow through the trees. This photo and yesterday's were both taken yesterday - one as I approached work in the morning, one as I approached home in the evening. I deliberatley tried to frame them similarly.

Spring is sprung

Fresh air, fresh blooms, fresh leaves on trees. Azaleas bloom in late winter, early spring, and they have been at their best the last week or so. The plane trees are re-leafing after their short hiatus. Winter is pretty short and unbrutal in Sydney, and spring doesn;t last long either!

Bottle brush

Still at Terrigal, here's a lovely bottlebrush blooming for spring.