The House(s) of Fran_mart

We have planted a whole lot of daffodils around the place with an original aim of having an avenue of daffs along the drive.  Think of UK Country Life (although our original catalyst was a place at Riverton in South Australia). That hasn't happened - a soil profile that descends to shale after 2 inches makes some things difficult - but we do have some nice blooms as we mov from Winter (today) into Spring (tomorrow).  Here are a few photos.  I have included this image, of the same variety as an earlier shot, because the poor bulb is battling away at the top of the drive, with no soil and very little water.  Well done that plant!  I am not convinced these are daffodils: perhaps Freesias  jonquils?

Yes, it is still two days until Spring arrives but we had an overnight minimum well above freezing, and have had some rain recently, so i think it is close to Spring.  I was also able to find quite a few flowering plants on a stroll round the block this morning.  (This doesn't include Wattles: they will get featured on Monday.) Rather than building tension as I usually do, here is the big ticket item up front.  The first orchid of the season, in Cyanicula caerulea - the blue not-caladenia. The growth in numbers of plants here is interesting (and may be the subject of a separate post).  By 1 September we were up to 15 plants.  Some of them were growing quite happily under the Kunzea ericoides . In terms of members of the family Fabaceae (aka beans) the only representative I found - and in very good and widely distributed numbers - was Hovea heterophylla . For reasons that are not at all apparent to me Hardenbergia violacea has become a tad hard to fi...

Unfortunately it wasn't the white of Stegostyla sp . but read on a bit - OK quite a bit - to find out what it was!  There are a couple of rants to begin with, but we soon get to plants! We were greeted by this very nice sign. As always I wonder how much they pay for the design, fabrication and installation of such  boffo .  My guess is that it could cover the cost of a few staff years of Ranger effort to prosecute litterers, trail bike riders and other degenerates. So what do you do with a Nature Reserve?  What else than run a squillion power lines through it. In case you wonder about the soil profile in Black Mountain here it is. Possibly the term 'soil gets stretched a bit there, but I don't have to dig it, and the plants seem to like it which is the main thing. As we are getting close to Wattle Day (and there are celebrations advertised on the net by the Friends of ANBG ) I will start the floriferosity with some Acacias.  The commonest one toda...

Early in 2014 Kelly's Swamp was completely dry.  Water slowly returned as it rained, but the growth of vegetation meant that the water - and any birds swimming around in it  - was almost invisible.  The recent rainfall has put enough liquid down the Molonglo that the swamp is now rather full. This is the view from Bittern Hide  .. and here is one from Cygnus.  One hopes that the reeds don't erupt as they were doing, or most of this view will disappear.  A couple of Hardheads showing that the water isn't that deep (or they are standing on a submerged log).  Water on (and off) a Coots back, as it gives the business to some vegetation.  First. spot the vegetation under the water ...  .. then dive for it.   This image might help answer the question what does a Coot's botty look like, as well as displaying the waves created as it dives.  The adult Swamphens are looking rather lurid, presumably getting ready for an out...