Fiery Red Photinia

It's a cracker! Tapanui, West Otago, New Zealand. 09 Oct 2021

Bush Lawyer

Particularly nasty and tenacious native vine that literally hangs around in our bush waiting to catch hold of the unwary walker. Rubus species (blackberry relative). The first four photos are from a walk we did in Black Gully Reserve near Tapanui on Sunday afternoon (23 May). West Otago, New Zealand. Click on any photo to...

Aging Gracefully

On my local walk 29 March when I took many photos, I caught the colours and textures of this weathered fire hydrant marker-post on the shaded side of a road at the outer edge of town. It's a concrete post painted yellow but nature's been very busy adding lots of extra interest! Nearby I found...

Wild Highway

A quick 'extra' post. I was prompted to do this when I saw a comment conversation between two blogger friends. They were discussing how plants will grow even in the most unlikely places given half a chance (my paraphrase of what they said). Cracks, straight out of a rock, tree growing on tree, etc. So...

Bud, It’s Time To Bloom

Petals piling on the pressure ... "Bud, it's time to bloom".

Black Tree Fern 02

I was taking photos of this tree fern (the same tree fern I showed yesterday), and Nigel decided to photograph me taking the photos ... and getting swallowed by the fronds! I was trying to get detail photos - which I'm now sharing with you in this post. Dunedin Botanic Garden, New Zealand. 09 Dec...

Black Tree Fern

Two photos of the same black tree fern. Dunedin Botanic Garden, New Zealand.Photo 1 : taken 09 Dec 2020 ~~/~~ Photo 2 : taken 25 Oct 2020Entirely coincidental I took both from a similar position. I find it interesting to see the development of the big new frond during the intervening period. Click on either...

Hint of Spring

A couple of days ago Nigel and I walked up the road together on a sunny, relatively warm winter afternoon and I was delighted to spot emerging daffodils. I didn't have a camera but asked Nigel to get some shots. Soon after seeing the bud I also saw a mature flower but we'll stay with...

A Very Dandy Dandelion

Found this photo on Twitter and I'm amazed at the determination of the dandelion. "Botanical tenacity last week in the gardens! A pilon at the edge of a path ended up on top of a dandelion. Remarkably, the plant produced a 60cm tall stem to get its flower through the opening!" --Kevin Kavanagh, South Coast...

The Rocking Horse

Alternative title:  The Baby in Red. Haiku poem about me as a 4 yr-old with my long black hair (I could sit on it when I was 4), wearing my beautiful rose-red dress (my 'good' dress), and having a ride on my rocking horse. The first stirrings of independence! The poem was inspired by this...

Liebster Award

Lovely surprise last night when I visited  Confessions of a Doctor to be  and found Helen Qin had nominated me for a Liebster Award. I couldn't help feeling flattered to be first on the list .. thanks Helen! Helen is a final year medical student at the University of Melbourne in Australia and regularly writes...

Not Forgotten

I haven't been able to keep up with all the photos we've taken this year so I've got an 'archive'. I took this photo of young pine trees at Queens Park in Invercargill on 24 February and it seems the best fit for my post today, beautiful fresh young trees with lots of life in...