LEAF MACRO

Gumleaf backlit by the sun.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

GRASS PARROT

The red-rumped parrot (Psephotus haematonotus), also known as the red-backed parrot or grass parrot, is a common bird of south-eastern Australia, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. Red-rumped parrots are slim, elegant, moderate-sized parrots approximately 28 cm in length. The male's plumage is a bright emerald-green with yellow underparts, a brick-red rump and blue highlights on the wings and upper back. The female's plumage is less vibrant, with pale olive underparts, dull green wings and back and blue-black wingtips. The characteristic red rump is only found in the male. Like many parrots, red-rumped parrots nest in tree hollows or similar places, including fenceposts and stumps. They lay 3-6 white eggs, Breeding usually takes place in spring (August to January), however, in the drier inland areas, breeding can occur at any time of year in response to rainfall.

Red-rumped parrots do well in aviaries and cages. They don't like to be in crowded spaces and will sometimes be aggressive towards other birds if they don't have enough space. Red-rumped parrots can also be hand reared, provided that they have a large cage and are taken out of their cage on a daily basis to prevent boredom, as it may result in the parrot pulling out its feathers to occupy itself. In captivity, if properly cared for, these birds will live from 15 to 32 years. Their green plumage provides such a good camouflage in ankle length grasses that they can hide quite effectively until the viewer is only 10–20 metres away. They spend a great deal of time feeding on the ground, and often call to one another with an attractive 'chee chillip chee chillip'.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

YOUNG & OLD

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DRY & WET

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the of the Seasons meme.

AUTUMN HARBINGER

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

IRELAND

Ireland (Irish: Éire; Ulster-Scots: Airlann) is an island in the North Atlantic, often called "The Emerald Isle". It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, in the northeast of the island.

In 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just over 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland. The island's geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland.

The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable climate which is free of extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, compared with a European average of 35%. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is very moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area. However, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.

🍀HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!🍀

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

GREEN EUPHORBIA

Euphorbia characias subspecies wulfenii is a shrubby perennial in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) growing to about 1 m, with blue-green leaves. In late winter and spring it has stunning rounded heads of acidic lime-green bracts, which last for a long period. A Mediterranean plant, it needs a sunny, well-drained position. It combines well with other Mediterranean plants which grow in temperate climates, such as French lavender Lavandula dentata, tough purple flag irises (the original Iris germanica), perennial statice (Limonium perezii), Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), rosemary, perennial wallflowers (Erysimum mutabile) - which all enjoy the same garden conditions.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

EVERGREEN

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

URANIUM GLASS

Uranium glass is a type of glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting for coloration. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 2% uranium by weight, although some 20th-century pieces were made with up to 25% uranium.

Uranium glass was once made into tableware and household items, but fell out of widespread use when the availability of uranium to most industries was sharply curtailed during the Cold War in the 1940s to 1990s. Most such objects are now considered antiques or retro-era collectibles, although there has been a minor revival in art glassware. Otherwise, modern uranium glass is now mainly limited to small objects like beads or marbles as scientific or decorative novelties.

The normal colour of uranium glass ranges from yellow to green depending on the oxidation state and concentration of the metal ions, although this may be altered by the addition of other elements as glass colorants. Uranium glass also fluoresces bright green under ultraviolet light and can register above background radiation on a sufficiently sensitive Geiger counter, although most pieces of uranium glass are considered to be harmless and only negligibly radioactive.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

RAINFOREST

rainforest | ˈreɪnfɒrɪst | noun
A luxuriant, dense forest rich in biodiversity, found typically in tropical areas with consistently heavy rainfall: Save the rainforests | [mass noun] : Tracts of rainforest | [as modifier] : Rainforest plants.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

STRAWBERRY FLOWER

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

SUMMERFIELD

Summerfield

On a perfect Summer's day
Walking on a fresh green field,
Making memories warm and bright
For a cold and dismal Winter's night.

On a Summerfield my merry fay,
With a kiss a promise sealed:
Lips that savoured cool sweet wine, 
Now in Winter's tears taste brine.

Oh to be in Summerfield again,
'Neath blue sky on verdant grass,
Clasping hands and heart alight
How we'd love, all sense delight...

But instead in Winter's bane
I look in frozen looking glass:
Wrinkles, white hair, all decline,
And for Summerfield I long and pine.

NJV

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme.

SUNNY LEAF

This post is part of the Weekend Green meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

RELIC

After we are long gone, green will prevail...

This post is part of the Weekend Green meme

RED, RED ROSE

A Red, Red Rose

My love is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June :

My love is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in love am I :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee well, my only love,

And fare thee well a while !

And I will come again, my love,

Thou’ it were ten thousand mile.

Robert Burns

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

SPRING GREEN

The elms are wearing their new Spring green leaves...

This post is part of the Weekend Green meme.

ICE PLANT

Aptenia cordifolia is a species of succulent plant in the ice plant family known by the common names heartleaf ice plant and baby sun rose. Perhaps the most common plant seen under this name is actually Aptenia 'Red Apple', a hybrid with red flowers and bright green leaves, whose parents are A. cordifolia and A. (Platythyra) haeckeliana. The true species of A. cordifolia has magenta purple flowers and more heart-shaped, mid-green, textured leaves.

Native to southern Africa, this species has become widely known as an ornamental plant. It is a mat-forming perennial herb growing in flat clumps on the ground from a woody base. Stems reach up to about 60 centimetres long. The bright green leaves are generally heart-shaped and up to 3 centimetres long. They are covered in very fine bumps. Bright pink to purplish flowers appear in the leaf axils and are open during the day. The fruit is a capsule just over a centimetre long.

The hybrid, Aptenia 'Red Apple', has, in some areas, escaped cultivation and now grows as an introduced species. Its far more vigorous growth and ability to root from small bits of stem makes it a poor choice for planting adjacent to wild lands as it can overwhelm native plants.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme.

WINTER GREENS

By the Darebin Creek in Melbourne in Winter.

This post is part of the Weekend Green meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

IVY

Ivy was a sacred plant of the Greek god Dionysos, the god of wine, fertility and the theatre. It is said that at a celebration honouring Dionysos, a young maiden, Cissos, who overdid the dancing, drinking and celebrating, died of exhaustion, so Dionysus turned her into an ivy plant. Since then, the god was said to wear a crown of ivy leaves in memory of the poor young woman who died in his honour in a paroxysm of ritual madness.

This post is part of the Weekend Green meme.