Primary Colours in a Winter Garden

Even with a show of rain the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne always impress. I can’t wait until the new section opens later in the year.

Warburton Yarn Bomb

How timely for International Yarn Bombing Day! We were walking along the river in Warburton, Victoria yesterday and spotted this massive standing snag.

Laughing Kookaburra

One of Australia’s icon birds, the largest and loudest of the kingfishers, is a frequent presence in the bush. This one was spotted near Lilydale Lake in northeast Melbourne. I am particularly fond of their ability to dispatch poisonous snakes larger than themselves.

Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)

Silk Spinner

Watch that Bandicoot Scoot

We always enjoy a trip to the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne to check out a bountiful display of native flora and fauna. The endangered Southern Brown Banicoots were especially active and great entertainment. The bandicoot is a marsupial that digs for soil invertebrates and underground fungi.

Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus)

'Birthday Candles' Banksia (B. spinulosa var. spinulosa)

Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)

Just because it’s a Tree Frog…

doesn’t mean that it lives in a tree. We made a quick trip to Gunalda, QLD and this little tree frog gave us a friendly welcome after a slight scare.

Llamas and Lyrebirds

Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of either but I was excited to come across a llama farm in the hills of South Gippsland, Victoria. I’m always on the lookout for new fibre possibilities. I would love to make some woven bands with llama fleece.

The lyrebirds on the other hand are more elusive. We were completing a trail in the Tarra-Bulga National Park and saw evidence of recent lyrebird activity. I had a quick sighting of a male on a previous visit but he was doing a mad dash down the trail. Another time, we saw a female but she did not have the majestic tail for which the males are known. The males are also known for the ability to mimic the sounds of other birds. Little did we know but we were about to witness a fantastic show. There was a pair hidden in the scrub up on the hill and the male was gearing up for a grand performance. Even I was able to identify a few of the birds he mimicked, but J was able to give me a more complete list. We listened in awe as he went through his repertoire twice, which included a kookaburra, yellow tail cockatoo, grey strikethrush, scrubwren, bellbird and even a chook (chicken). It was definitely the highlight of my weekend.

There are some great videos on YouTube if you want to check them out, one of the most famous is of Chook from the Adelaide Zoo who recently passed away at the age of 32.

YouTube – Superb Lyrebird imitating construction work – Adelaide Zoo

ABC News – Loved lyrebird dies

Tarra-Bulga National Park, June 2011

I love the way the ferns remind me of a lyrebird’s tail or a twill weave.

Fine Feathered Friends

Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis)

I met some very friendly King Parrots while visiting friends in The Patch, VIC. They were all too eager to eat from your hand.

Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis)

Summer in the Cranbourne Garden

Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus)

Over the weekend we went to the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne and the trees were alive with Superb Fairywrens fluttering about. New Holland Honeyeaters were also extremely active among the Kangaroo Paw, which was in full bloom and absolutely stunning. Even though the Kangaroo Paw is endemic to Western Australia it grows well in Victoria. I had no idea that there were so many colours.

New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)

Kangaroo Paw

Leaves, Roots and Fronds

Naturally dyed top
L to R: carrot tops, Bracken fern, carrot root, carrot root with washing soda after bath and Eucalyptus

After getting great results with Eucalyptus dyeing, I thought I would try a few more starting with purple carrots. Since I had a large quantity of carrot tops, over 2 kg, I made a large batch of alum mordanted wool using the hot method. The carrot tops were less than exciting, but it was nice to at least get some color. The roots were equally disappointing, but more interesting after a washing soda after bath, which resulted in a nice green.

The Bracken fern was by far the most interesting. It was actually over dyed carrot top with a washing soda after bath. I forgot to take photos of the source, but there is plenty more where that came from. But be warned, they are also very strong smelling.

On the other side of the spectrum the Eucalyptus smelled wonderful, but only resulted in a colour that wasn’t very exciting. The colour improved slightly with a washing soda after bath.

Hand spun yarn dyed with carrot top

Eucalyptus tree (species unknown)

Eucalyptus leaves (species unknown)

Top dyed with Eucalyptus with end dipped in washing soda after bath