ZUCCHINI FLOWER

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

FATSIA

Fatsia japonica, also fatsi, paperplant, false castor oil plant, or Japanese aralia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae, native to southern Japan and southern Korea.

It is an evergreen shrub growing to 1–5 m tall, with stout, sparsely branched stems. The leaves are spirally-arranged, large, 20–40 cm in width and on a petiole up to 50 cm long, leathery, palmately lobed, with 7–9 broad lobes, divided to half or two-thirds of the way to the base of the leaf; the lobes are edged with coarse, blunt teeth. The flowers are small, white, borne in dense terminal compound umbels in late autumn or early winter, followed by small black fruit in spring.

It is commonly grown as an ornamental plant in warm temperate regions where winters do not fall below about −15 °C. F. japonica thrives in semi-shade to full-shade and is winter hardy in USDA Zones 8–10. It can be grown as an indoor plant and has been shown to effectively remove gaseous formaldehyde from indoor air.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

BLUEBOTTLE FLY

The bluebottle fly or bottlebee (Calliphora vomitoria) is a common blow fly found in most areas of the world and is the type species for the genus Calliphora. Similar species include the greenbottle fly, a close relative that can be distinguished by its bright green metallic colouring. Bluebottle fly adults feed on nectar, while the larvae feed on carcasses of dead animals. Adults are also pollinators to some flowers with strong odour.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

THE WEBS OF AUTUMN

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

BEE

"How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labors hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes..."
                                           Isaac Watts

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

BUSY BEE

Bee on a Crassula flower. Crassula ovata, commonly known as jade plant, lucky plant, money plant or money tree, is a succulent plant with small pink or white flowers. It is native to South Africa and Mozambique, and is common as a houseplant worldwide. Much of its popularity stems from the low levels of care needed; the jade plant requires little water and can survive in most indoor conditions. These flowers are in bloom in Melbourne at the moment and the bees are feasting!

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

ANT

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

LADYBUG

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

BUG

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.

VISITOR

A ladybird visiting a dill plant going to seed.

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.

BUG

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