Penny camouflaged

Penny was almost invisible recently, after she frolicked in a mud puddle, enjoying the rare experience of rain, and then rolled in the dry dirt where there used to be grass.

And now she's at it again, blending in to the indigenous grasses of another park.

Isn't it lovely to see how the native grasses can cope with the current dry weather? Thank goodness for the people who work so hard to put in appropriate plants that can support wildlife. (Volunteers, for the most part.)

It's hard to keep non-native grassed areas alive now, with such a lack of moisture, and you can see in the next photo what a difference it makes if the area is watered. The more distant part has received water, in order that sporting events can go ahead.

I used to be critical of the use of water on sporting grounds, until I went to a talk recently about how decisions are made when allocating our precious water resources. The speaker told us that in the awful Millennium Drought, suicide rates soared in many towns when sports grounds were allowed to go to ruin, and when consequently sports events were discontinued. The psychological value of such community events is incalculable.

I sure hope we're not creeping into another drought...

hard work to restore indigenous vegetation

Two days ago Penny and I walked at a local reserve, along the Yarra River. We stopped to look at one spot where there was a great difference between two types of vegetation. On the left, native grasses. On the right, ubiquitous wandering trad.

I've heard from many people that dogs can have an allergic reaction to wandering trad, and it's possible Penny does, but I've never been sure. (She does have frequent skin issues.)

I don't usually mind seeing non-native plants around the place, because it seems to me it's inevitable that garden escapees will grow amongst our indigenous plants, but I must say I hate to see this plant, because it seems to have no natural enemies in Australia and smothers every other plant. Here's a photo of it that I wrote about in a previous post, on a day when I walked past literally kilometres of nothing but trad, with only trees able to resist its smothering embrace.

But how lovely to see the native grasses given a chance to succeed against it, with the help of the wonderful volunteers who put so much effort into maintaining Wilson Reserve.

The mystery circle explained

Long, long ago, Penny and I were mystified by a circle of dead grass that appeared  in a local park.

We did figure eventually that the grass had been sprayed in order to prepare the spot  for an indigenous planting.

And now the planting is flourishing.

It's a pity that they probably used a horrible, dangerous herbicide on the spot originally, but I guess we'll have to hope it hasn't remained in the ground. (But latest science seems to indicate it stays around longer than Monsanto would have us believe.)

mooching around the local lanes with my dog

Penny did her 'puppy eyes' trick today, glancing at her lead as if to say, 'When are we going out?'

Of course, I couldn't resist. I love it when she communicates with me so clearly. But I wasn't in the mood for a full-on exercise-type walk, so we strolled around for half an hour just smelling the flowers.

I feel sure Penny was smelling things, because she had the tell-tale froth around her nostrils that says she's in full scenting mode.

But, strangely, all the flowers she examined were low to the ground. Could it be that she wasn't actually enjoying perfumed flowers, but was sniffing around for pee-mails?

I, on the other hand, WAS looking at plants for aesthetic reasons. Oh, wait, I guess canine aesthetics involves urine, so I shouldn't feel so superior.

I recently attended a workshop on edible weeds at Ceres, so I was looking out for them. Here are a couple I noticed:

dandelion

plantain (I think)

I saw a lovely dandelion seedhead, and crouched down to get a photo of the ball of fluff. 

But Penny came to see what I was doing and wandered away with half the seeds stuck to her coat!

learning about 'qi kai cai' when walking with my dog

I love words, as you might know if you've ever popped over to my other blog.

I also love gardening, and particularly enjoy finding out about edible weeds. And I love walking with Penny.

How fortunate, then, that all these interests came together as Penny, her Other Human and I headed back from our walk at Willsmere on Sunday. We spotted a sign saying 'Hays Paddock' and saw people walking towards it with dogs on lead. Of course we had to suss it out.

Once we arrived, we realised it was the site of the famous playground designed for children with disabilities to have fun alongside children with no disabilities, and we thought perhaps it might not be the best place to take a dog, so we prepared to head off home. (However, a look at the City of Boroondara website shows that dogs can exercise there off-lead, which, when you think about it, is logical, because children with disabilities are quite likely to have a family dog.)

'Stop!' I cried as we drove past a woman crouched on the grass, digging up weeds. A chance to learn about edible weeds from a woman who seemed to be Chinese! Well, actually that was poetic licence on my part - seeing I was the driver, I didn't have to shout 'stop'.

Parking the car a short distance away, I hurried over and found she was happy to share her knowledge. She was digging up little flat plants, and gave me a couple to take home. I've put them in seed-raising mix to see how they grow.

After a look through some of my books about weeds, I concluded the plants are shepherds purse. I think we have them growing in our back lawn, but I'll have to wait until these ones flower to be sure, because the ones in the lawn have seed heads on them.

A couple of sites on the internet have interesting information about the use of this plant in Chinese cooking.  Here's one about the use of qi cai in wontons. And here's an extract from a book with a short piece about them.

I have many new experiences when I go out walking with Penny. Thanks, Penny!

walking the local lanes

Many suburbs in our area have lanes along the rear of the houses, between the main streets. In the past they were for men to come in through the back gates in the dark and take away the containers of 'night soil'.

Some homes still have a back gate to these lanes, even though they aren't used for the same purpose. Many homes don't have access to the lanes these days.

However, the quiet lanes with their lack of cars make great places to walk a dog off-lead, and we often use them in this way, though we have to be careful to keep an eye out for snakes in the warmer months, if the grass has not been mown or if the lane is not paved.

Beautiful plants lean out into the lanes over back fences.

In one lane, someone has drilled holes in their fence so their plants can grow through. The plants, by growing through the hole, face north and so get good sunlight. That particular house doesn't have a gate into the lane, so I suppose the people must come up from the next cross street to get their fruit. They have a passionfruit and a grape.

However, there's a beautiful passionfruit plant in another lane, facing south.

Local walks

Having a dog makes you get out of the house. Sometimes it feels like a bother to have to go, but once you're on the way, it becomes a pleasure.

Today was one of those days when it's an absolute pleasure to even think of setting out. The sun was shining, not too hot, and the local gardens beckoned us to come and see.



After all the years of drought, I still can't get used to the lush growth all around.



It's the best year I can remember for irises.



It was quite hot, so Penny seemed happy to come back home after a short amble around the streets, to sit at the front window and watch the world go by.

dogs and planting in Darebin Parklands

Today Penny and I went to have a look at how the baby grasses are growing in Darebin Parklands.













It was the first time Penny had seen them, because she stayed home while her humans were planting poa grasses along the edge of the creek last Sunday.















It was enormously satisfying to work with others to plant hundreds of native plants and know that they will add to the variety of flora in this beautiful spot. Many of the people who worked that day walk with their dogs in the park, so they will enjoy seeing the plants grow. (Let's hope that the hot summer weather doesn't begin too early this year, so the plants can get a good start.)

Each little plant had a handful of water crystals beneath it, which should keep them going for a couple of months.


After they went into the lovely sandy soil, we mulched around them.
































For some of the volunteer 'gardeners', it was their first experience of planting in this wonderful park. I hope it will be the beginning of a long-term involvement. I've just been looking at a fascinating presentation about the history of the Darebin Parklands Association and I can only say how I admire the work that has been done so far.