Project 365 - 65

Almond Blossoms announcing Spring!

Project 365 - 5

Pohutukawa in bloom. Whale Bay, Raglan, NZ.

Project 365 - 2

Koru - unfurling Fern leaf in the Forgotten Valley, NZ.

Happy May Day!

...with some flowers I spotted walking along the coast last Sunday (on a Geology outing I'll tell you about later). The first is Asteriscus maritimum, the second I have no idea and is the first time I've ever seen it (was next to a house so could be an escaped garden plant) and the third is one I've seen many times in Spring but can't remember the name! Don't touch it, it's sticky! :p

Spring is definitely here and summer is coming along shortly! At least it feels that way here in Alicante. :o)

May Flowers

I wanted to end the month the way I started it, sharing some of the flowers we are graced with around here in Spring (click on photos for a larger view).

Such as these delicate Limonium delicatulum (or acelga salada; if I remember my Botany classes correctly, certain species of Limonium are endemic to the Spanish coast, and in general they're quite rare).

A close-up on the tiny flowers:

And here's another Limonium species:

And our cheery Asteriscus maritimum:
And while all those purple flowers I photographed on trees a month ago are gone, there's a new group of trees out that are bursting with royal purple! I love these (although they can be a nuisance to having a clean car). They remind me of Mexico, of a plaza in front of a church we went to occasionally after our parish priest was transferred there. The whole plaza was surrounded by these and at this time of year it was like walking through a purpple cloud: lovely delicate flowers in the boughs above your head, and the flowers that had begun to fall beneath your feet. Does anyone know their name?

Close-up on the flowers:
Finally, do you remember that tree stump in my first flowery post (Earth Day)? Oops, now that I look at it you can;t tell in the picture entitled "new growth" that it's a stump. Well, you can still see the changes:

New growth indeed!
Hmmm... I like sharing pictures. Perhaps I'll get into the summery mood and share snippets of the Mediterranean with you these next couple of months. If for no other reason than to drive you insanely jealous share the beauties of this region! ;o)

May Flowers

HAPPY MAY DAY!!!

(well I hope this appears May 1st, I'm going to try and "schedule" this post as I'm heading out to Barcelona for the weekend and I really wanted to share these flowers on MayDay!)

Hmmm... although technically they should be "April Flowers" since that's when they were shot... ;o)

A few posts ago I shared flowers and new growth on trees in a lot in front of my appartment. (click for post here) Today I'm going for wild flowers: weeds and shrubs! All local (i.e. Mediterranean) plants, but am afraid don't have the time now to look up the names (I should have them written somewhere, I collected all of them for my "herbarium" for Freshman Botany). All in a "protected" (not very well I might say) area that slides down towards the Mediterranean. Enjoy!

A member of the carnation family I think

This is one of my favourites, I always love the rich colours, so rare in a land of pastels! It's also pretty hard to spot (tiny!) so am very proud of having photographed it. If I remember correctly 5 petals like this means it's part of the same family as apples etc... And if you look closely there are some even tinier yellow ones, those belong to the family "Labiada", same as thyme, rosemary, lavendar etc... (will have to go into the hills and photograph those some day!)

A member of the "Compuesta" family (in other words each "flower" is actually hundreds of flowers! each "petal" is really its own flower).

Fuzzy purple flowers!!! ;o)

I remember these guys were so hard to dry and press properly...

PS: Oh, and I know I promised some pictures from the crazy "Moros" weekend, but things have been hectic and haven't gotten around to working on those yet. They'll have to wait 'till next week. Sorry!

Happy Earth Day!!!

Hmmm... although looking it up in Wikipedia turns out this date is only marked in the U.S., elsewhere we get a different date. Oh well, any excuse is a good excuse to stop and think about this ball of rock we live on and the impact we have on the rest of the biosphere!

So just take a moment to think about your lifestyle and see if you can spot things that need improving in the environmental domain. Do you separate your trash? Recylce? Remember to turn off unnecessary lights around the house? Not over-heat nor over-cool your living space?

Every little bit counts!

I'm going to sign off with a reminder of some of the beauty to be seen around us... particularly in Spring, and even in such an arid region as the one I live in.

Cheers!.

Mimosas in bloom:












New growth on a tree felled by a storm last winter:
Mediterranean pine Pinus halepensis:
Teeny, tiny flowers on a willow tree (�? at least I think it's a willow... trees aren't my forte!)












And this one I have no idea what kind of tree it is (other than a member of the Leguminosa family due to those seeds), but just love it because of its beautiful Spring colours!


Note the 3 seasons on one branch:

dried seed husks from last fall,early spring pink/purple flowers, and green summer leaves that are already starting to take over...