Our Euodia tree is flowering now and is full of shrieking lorikeets, which are amazingly hard to see, even with their bright colour!
I managed to get a snap of this one. The flowers are very pretty and they are followed by clusters of black seed pods which the birds and the possums like too.. I hope the vitamin content of the flowers has recovered. We had a lorikeet fall out of the tree about a week ago, unable to fly. The wildlife carer who collected the bird said lots of the birds were falling out of the trees as the nutrition in the flowers was inadequate from all the rain we have had. I wonder how all the wildlife is faring in the flood zones all round Queensland and New South Wales.
I must have taken about 20 photos trying to get a picture of this Ulysses butterfly which feeds on the flowers of the Euodia. It is a large butterfly with a wingspan of about 5 1/2 inches and flies very fast. When it does land and closes its wings you can't see it as the underside of the wings is black and dark brown. The upper side of the wings is the most magnificent electric blue and sometimes there are several flying around. This picture is an image from wickipedia, I never did manage to get a photo
We planted two Pandorea jasminoides creepers on a trellis in the back garden to replace the things which were destroyed last year. Look at it now, flowering beautifully, and even the lovely glossy green leaves look attractive.
This is not a very good shot of the allamander vine and the thunbergia mysorensis vine, both putting on a very colourful show.
The honey eaters love this creeper, which keeps putting out new buds on the end of the stem, so that eventually it hangs almost two feet from the first flower.
The rain has stopped for the time being. We didn't quite make it to twice our annual average last year - we had 2975 mm - more than enough for any of us. Of course, the wet season is only just starting so there will be lots more rain yet before the end of the summer.......uggggh!
It's so lovely to see your garden at this time of year - especially as everything in ours has been destroyed by the coldest December for 100 years - so we're told by the weather bods here.
ReplyDeleteGlorious pics Robin - the flowers are a specially welcome sight as we are waiting for things to start growing again. That butterfly is breathtaking - it must be wonderful to see them flying about. Maybe climate change will prevent you from having so much rain this year - enough to keep things growing well of course.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of your flowering shrubs/trees/creepers Robin, they are spectacular. I really love the 'Wonga Vine' as it grows well here too, such a forgiving plant. Goodness, you've had a lot of rain. We've had less than half of that and we are getting very wet. I am not sure how we wold cope with the falls you have been receiving. I very much look forward to seeing more of the lovely blooms that abound in your part of the world.
ReplyDeleteLovely pics Robyn: I never tire of seeing plants and birds. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos Robin. Everything is so bare and dull here that they are a treat to see. Wonderful butterfly.
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