Monday, August 18, 2008

Royal Park

10 minutes walk down the street from our apartment is 188 hectares of inner city park goodness. Granted it exhibits some large expanses of drought stricken nothingness, but there are some really lovely native garden pockets if you know where to look.

I didn't think it would actually happen, but I did manage to get down to Royal Park this weekend to take some photos of plant life for pattern inspiration. My lovely friend Katrina was my backdrop assistant and patiently held the cloth in place behind various specimens.


Anyone know what this species is??



Maybe a botanical pattern will be inspired by the trip. We'll see.

13 comments:

Kim Vallee said...

Nice specimens. I cannot wait to see your interpretations.

Liesl said...

That wattle is very pretty. Look forward to seeing what it inspires in your prints.

Isn't Royal Park beautiful. I lived close-by for four years - its a great place to do some star gazing, on nights when the city lights aren't too bright. And I used to love hearing the zoo animals at night!

Tali said...

i used to walk around that park all the time when i lived across the road.
Apart from the native plant life, occasionally you'd see homeless people sleeping there between the bushes :(

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

That grass is really neat. I like the little bobs at the ends.

Shannon Garson said...

I have just discovered you work and your great blog. I have often seen and admired that native grass with the pale brown Christmas bauble-ey seeds. It's so beautiful. Do you know what it is?

Danielle said...

We've got an beautiful native garden at our new house and I've been getting inspired and drawing some of the cool shapes and textures as well! We have lots of those grasses with the cool bobbily shapes on them but I'm not sure what they are called?
Anyway can't wait to see your interpretations...

Michelle said...

Aren't native plants amazing? I think your grassy specimen might be a lomandra, but I could be wrong.

caitlin said...

I'm pretty sure that's an isolepis nodosa (aka knobby clubrush). Many of the landscapes I've designed in recent years included a collection of native grasses as they're very drought tolerant and look great in swathes. Lomandras are similar but have longer clumps of seeds. They're both popular grasses!

Julie said...

I love wattle and look forward to it at the ending of each winter.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think your first image is:
Scirpus cernuus or “Fiber Optic Grass”. Beautiful inspiration!

Kate Moore said...

I think it's sedge. I can't find a good online picture of it but try this http://www.milang.org.au/Wetlands/flatsedge.html I did a basket weaving course last month ago and have started looking at native grasses in a whole new way. Sedge was the grass used for the weaving.

Mademoiselle Bagatelles said...

I recently discovered your blog and I love it! I have been a silent reader ever since...( it has even motivated me to start mine!)

I also find inspiration for patterns from nature. Plants and flowers are just amazing!

AMM blog said...

Oh, I hope so!