Down Under Bees

Posted on August 6, 2018 by vanbraman

Tonight I thought I would share some pictures of Down Under Bees. As I thought of the title of the post I thought of the song Down Under by Men at Work. I had to find a recording of the song to listen to while putting this post together.

The pictures in the post are all from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

Bee, Yellow Daisy, Purple Center, Australia, Pollinators

Here is a bee pollinating a nice yellow daisy. It was fun trying to get a good picture of the bee. Most of them were out of focus, but this one turned out pretty good.

Yellow Daisy, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia

In this picture you can see the wings of the bee. This flower bed was very pretty, and you will see it better in the next picture.

Bee Sculpture, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Down Under Bee

I had no trouble capturing a picture of this bee. It is a fun sculpture and is standing in the bed of daisies where the ones in the first two pictures were growing.

The bees did not show up too well against the yellow background, but the next pictures have a bit better background.

White Flowers, Bees, Pollinators, Honey Bees, Australia, Royal Botanic Gardens

Here we have a bee pollinating some beautiful white flowers. If you look close you can see the rapidly beating wing on the left side of the bee.

Down Under Bees, Pollination, Royal Botanic Gardens, Honey Bees

Here are two more bees from the same flower bed. The flower bed had both pink and white flowers, but I tried to get pictures of the bees with the white flowers for the best contrast.

It is late winter here in Australia but the flowers are starting to appear.

Steven

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Statues of the Seasons

Posted on August 5, 2018 by vanbraman

On Saturday I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. I not only enjoyed the wonderful flowers and trees, but also the different sculptures and statues.

One set of statues that intrigued me were sculpted in marble and depicted the four seasons.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, four seasons, statuesThe four statues are at the head and foot of a set of stairs in the gardens.

The statues had originally been imported from Italy in 1883 along with four others. Today only six of the eight statues remain in the gardens. However, some of them have not been on continuous display, but have spent time in the “graveyard” before being conserved.

Sydney Botanical Garden, Spring Statue, statues, Italian MarbleSpring holds fresh cut roses as a symbol of the beginning of the yearly cycle.

Sydney Botanic Gardens, Royal Botanic, Spring StatueSummer carries a scythe as well as a sheaf of fresh cut lilies.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Autumn, Statue, Four SeasonsAutumn is a young woman holding grapes and a goblet of wine.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Four Seasons, Winter StatueThe four statues follow the standard allegorical theme of the four seasons which means that Winter, instead of being a young woman, is an old man. He is holding a dead bird and pine cones which represent the end of the yearly cycle of life.

Which of these statues do you like best?

Steven

 

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