Category Archives: outdoors

in the woods

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Another heavenly morning focusing in on the beauty in the nearby woods…

Sycamore: Acer pseudoplatanus

European Larch: Larix decidua

Young leaves: Rubus sp.

Wood Horsetail: Equisetum sylvaticum

Wood Anemone: Anemone nemorosa

Greater Stitchwort: Stellaria holostea

Lesser Celandine: Ranunculus ficaria

Marsh-marigold: Caltha palustris

Bluebell: Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Wood-sorrel: rumex acetosella

Bracken: Pteridium aquilinum

Moss

Moss sporangia

Sycamore : Acer pseudoplatanus

Bracken: Pteridium aquilinum

Turkey Tail: Trametes versicolor

Just like a tartan!

It’s wonderful to be so close to such beauty and to have the chance to learn more about plants that I’ve heard of or even used clinically and yet never seen, as well as to meet some entirely new ones. I’m on the hunt for some good field guides to help me as there is so much to learn- I recently confused squill with bluebells! I’m pretty rusty and surely more mistakes ahead of me but I’m just so grateful to be using my horticultural brain again!

moss

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I’m obsessed with the mosses growing all over everything in Glasgow! I imagine they are most obvious right now because of the cold and moisture of winter but they can found on practically all fixed objects with a vaguely flat surface where moisture can collect and add a huge amount of cheer to the grey-brown winter landscape…

I’m looking forward to learning about the many different species- there are over 900 species of bryophytes (a group that includes not only mosses, but also liverworts and hornworts which are commonly confused with mosses) here in Scotland and, although I come from a relatively lush part of Australia, I’m a complete novice when it comes to bryophyte ID. So I have my work cut out for me.

In the meantime, I’m just enjoying these as-yet-unnamed beauties in all their forms…

Dots

Mossy dots

Bulges

Wall

Mossy walls

Steps

Tree roots

Pompom trees

Moss pompoms

Twig

Mossy balaclava

Branch

Knot

Moss on cherry bark

And, just because it’s so lovely, I’m adding this lichen into the mix. Not sure I’ll be taking on a study in Scottish lichens though- that’s another 1500 species!

Lichen on birch tree

Happy weekend!

glasgow

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Hello from Glasgow! We’ve only been here for two weeks but the craziness of January, what with packing up our house and lives in Melbourne and saying goodbye to so many loved ones, already seems like months ago- I think we are still recovering! We came with work leads but no real plans or commitments and so have been able to take the time to settle in gently. We’ve been spending most of our time wandering the streets and doing a bit of sightseeing too, so the city (or parts of it) is starting to feel like home…

Looking over at Park Circus, the swanky part of town!

University of Glasgow

Wonderful windows at the University of Glasgow

Stained glass

Although we’ve tried to just take it easy, we’re also very keen to start putting down roots and so have been looking at loads of tenement flats and have our fingers crossed that we’ll be accepted for one in particular- so, so lovely! Scotto is in discussions with several acupuncture clinics and I’ve already got some work teaching knitting (more on that tomorrow) and am exploring how to run workshops in natural dyeing too. I’ve also been in contact with coordinators at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens to see how I can get involved there. So there are good plans in the works! Now I’m just looking forward to making some friends here and building a community and routine for myself- after being so busy recently, it’s so strange to have so little in place!

Greenhouse and cold frames, Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Greenhouse and cold frames for starting seedlings in the cold climate, Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Tender plants under glass

Children’s gardens

The River Kelvin

This part of the Kelvin was frozen over when we arrived and much of the vegetation was beautiful shades of brown and grey but, over the past week, the ice has disappeared, birds are more active and there are bulbs and buds appearing everywhere. To me, it feels like spring is around the corner. Or perhaps not? We don’t know the weather patterns yet!

Hornbeam (Carpinus spp.)

Flowering quince (Chaenomeles japonica) is a winter flowerer in Melbourne but is appearing now in very early spring here

Viburnum spp.

Spirea

Snowdrops (Galanthus spp)

Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum)

Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

Crocus spp.

Chubby, chirpy robin

Chunky squirrel!

I’ll be back with more very soon but, for now, we send our love to all our family and friends! xx

japan

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We’ve arrived in Glasgow! More about that very soon but, for now, here are some moments captured on our 4-day stopover in Japan, where we caught up with friends just outside Osaka.

We spent a day in Nara, where sacred deer roam freely through all the temples and parks…

Temple guardian

Mama and baby deer

Scotto feeding the deer

Yoko and the deer

Baby deer

And visited a number of temples, including Todai-ji, the largest timber structure in the world and home to a beautiful 15m buddha…

Todai-ji

Daibutsu (none of my photos turned out as it was so dark in there!)

Temple butterfly

Temple incense

Timberwork

Patterns on the steps up to Nigetsudo

Lantern carved with tomoe symbols

Stairs at Nigetsudo

Kaisuga Taisha

Kaisuga Taisha, a glorious Shinto temple

And wandered the streets and temples of Kyoto…

Following the leader at the Emperor’s residence

On the way to Kiyomizudera

Maiko

Beautiful paneling and timber

Swan

Exquisite woodwork

And I snuck in a bit of plant hunting too!

Winter-flowering sakura or cherry

Wintersweet

Beautifully pruned willow

The 800 year-old wisteria at Kaisuga Taisha

Mosses and ferns cohabiting this tree

The ubiquitous Japanese camellia with a chirpy little friend

All in all, a brief but very lovely visit that I’m sure we’ll repeat on the way to or from Australia!

capeweed

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While out at Discovery Bay last weekend, I got a bit obsessed with photographing Capeweed (Arctotheca calendula), an environmental weed on mainland Australia. Capeweed is found in areas of habitation (gardens and lawns), among agricultural crops and pastures and in conservation areas, displacing ephemeral native species, harbouring pests that threaten indigenous species and posing a threat to the integrity of plant communities and the survival of threatened species in these sites.

So why photograph it? As soon as I got up close to this garish flower, I caught a glimpse of a much more subtle beauty. I often think that, if we can see beyond the context of our understanding of this and other species as weeds, we are able to simply observe them for what they are.

And also to learn how and why it is able to spread so successfully. It’s hard not to be amazed by the strategies of nature.

From budding to withering…

1: Bud contained within juicy, feathered bracts

2: Bracts retract to reveal the “petals” neatly tucked in. Daisy flowers are actually inflorescences or groups of florets; the outer ring of petals are ligular florets with a ligule or strap that looks like a petal.

3: The ligules unfurl

4: Opening to reveal the inner tubular florets

5: Open for pollination

6: The falling of the tubular florets reveals a tangle of wool that surrounds each cypsela or fruit

7: Fluff

8: The star-like floral attachment points resemble Venetian glass beads

9: The pappus becomes more and more fluffy in order to catch the wind for dispersal

9: The woolly cypselas become increasingly fluffy in order to catch the wind for dispersal

10: Ready for dispersal

12: Achene (or fruit) starting to be dispersed

12: Cypselas dispersing

15: Subtle colours… this woolly covering attracts moisture, creating a little germination bed and increasing the chance of survival of the seeds inside, once on the ground and ripe.

14: Dispersal reveals a beautiful receptacle

15: Remains of the tubular florets that ring the receptacle

16: All parts weather and brown

17: Beauty in senescence