Nature – Page 7 – TRAVEL WORDS

Nature Photo Challenge: tree bark

This week’s challenge from Denzil is interesting, visit his site for lots of information about tree bark that you probably never knew. I have always been fascinated by bark, mainly for the colours and textures so here’s a few from my archives.

The amazing texture of Xanthorrhoea glauca, the Australian grass tree.

Prunus serrula. A magnificent small garden tree for year round interest its most prominent feature is its tactile, silky, polished bark. The smooth, mahogany bark peels in translucent cinnamon and honey coloured sheets to reveal a fresh new hue of bronze-red gloss beneath. Caught in autumn sunlight this tree almost glows.

Prunus serrula, called birch bark cherry, birchbark cherry, paperbark cherry, or Tibetan cherry, is a species of cherry native to China

This multi-stemmed one is a highly prized specimen.

Chinese Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum) has the advantage of being attractive all year round: in spring, when the leaves appear, in autumn when its wonderful, rich leaf colour shines, and throughout the dormant season because of its remarkable bark. When the brilliant deep crimson and scarlet leaves have fallen in late November, the full majesty of the rusty-brown bark, which peels in loose tatters, is revealed. Catching it with the sunlight behind creates this gorgeous orange-cinnamon peel.

Australian Eucalyptus / Gum trees often have interesting coloured bark.

Sydney Blue Gum

Sydney Red Gum

Scribbly gums are a type of eucalyptus or gum tree. There are a few species that are known as scribbly gums as they all have the ‘scribbles’ across their bark.

Scribbly gum is a name given to a variety of different Australian Eucalyptus trees which play host to the larvae of scribbly gum moths which leave distinctive scribbly burrowing patterns on the bark.

And I’ll leave you with this. Along the road to Potato Point (NSW, Australia) you will come across the most magical tree. An enchanting gum tree decorated with toadstools, butterflies, dragonflies and flowers amongst the discarded eucalyptus leaves. Want to know more? Click here.

Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge #22 | Bark

Nature Photo Challenge: Water Plants

Nymphaea are rhizomatous, submerged aquatic perennials with floating, rounded leaves and showy, sometimes fragrant, cup- or bowl-shaped flowers in a wide range of colours, held on or above the water and followed by submerged, berry-like fruits.

These water-lilies are in Kew Garden’s Victorian Waterlily House completed in 1852, which was specifically to showcase the giant Amazon waterlily (Victoria amazonica) – a natural wonder of the age.

The Nelumbonaceae (Lotus-lily) are from Sydney’s Botanic Garden (Australia) in the main and waterlily ponds close to the Palm Grove Centre.

Lotus flowers are considered sacred in China, Tibet and India and the lotus flower is symbolic in Hindu and Buddhist religions as lotus displays all the different stages of growth simultaneously – bud, flower and seed pod.

Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge #21 | Water Plants

Nature Photo Challenge: Cacti

I am not a fan of cacti though I have been known to have some in the house many years ago and when I lived in Cape Town we had some of the lovely Lithops in the garden which look like living stones. But they are succulents so not quite the same. One very tall cactus only flowered at night so there were many anxious evenings once a bud appeared. And I do recall a trough of cacti into which my son fell at the age of 18 months. It happened at night and I hadn’t realised that his hand was full of the spines when I washed it under the tap!

But back in 2009 – 2012 I was lucky enough to spend some time in San Diego and on one occasion went to visit Balboa Park – a definite must see if you are ever in SD. There are several gardens including a desert garden with magnificent cacti and succulents.

The 1935 (Old) Cactus Garden was developed under the direction of Kate Sessions for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. It contains some of the largest cactus and succulent specimens in the Park and has also been developed to include the exotic African and Australian Protea plants.

Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge #18 | Cacti

A Stroll in Richmond Park

Over the Bank Holiday weekend I spent a couple of days visiting my daughter in Surrey. After a morning of gardening we decided to skip a visit to Wisley and instead head off to Richmond Park, one of the Royal Parks in London. It’s a place we’ve been to before when the grandchildren were small, but not for many years for me.

Isabella’s Plantation was a favourite spot with a pretty stream leading to a pond and stepping stones and tiny bridges for youngsters to enjoy, but it was rather disappointing to find it very overgrown with reeds, Greater Willow herb and Joe Pye Weed in particular. So much so that we couldn’t even see the stream and most of the ponds were hidden from view. I’m all for rewilding places, but they still require management and maintenance. However, it is still a popular place for families to find some peace and enjoy a picnic (relatively speaking as huge planes pass overhead constantly and the non-native ring-necked green parakeets screech above your head).

Isabella Plantation

Erica / Heather Garden

Lythrum salicaria / Purple Loosestrife

Greater Willowherb

Reed / Grass

Lythrum salicaria / Purple Loosestrife

Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata)

Erica

The Isabella Plantation is a 40 acre woodland garden set within a Victorian woodland plantation planted in the 1830’s. First opened to the public in 1953, it is best known for its evergreen azaleas, which line the ponds and streams and at their peak of flower in late April and early May. The site is managed very much with nature in mind and the gardens are run on organic principles. Native plants commonly grow alongside exotics throughout the Plantation. [source: Isabella Plantation]

I think spring time is probably the best season to visit this garden as there are many camellias and rhododendrons and azaleas planted and the native stuff would have died down over the winter.

We exited through Peg’s Pond Gate and walked around the perimeter of the garden under the large trees – oaks, beech, horse chestnuts – enjoying the filtered light and listening to the parakeets. It must have been a welcome shady place to be during the heatwave.

On arriving back at the car park we decided to walk up to Pen Ponds in the centre of the park so the dog could have a run off the lead. You still need to be careful with your dog as there are deer roaming freely in the park and during May – August dogs must be kept on leads throughout the park.

By the time we reached the ponds the sky had turned very black to the south, though still blue towards London. Despite the look of those clouds it didn’t rain a single drop.

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And we were lucky enough to see a few of the deer.

Jo’s Monday Walks