Oh What World Within Your Branches Lives?

On the left of the paddock in front of The Cottage.  These trees are truly alive with the music of hundreds of birds and insects and the rustle of each tiny breeze

Snowing Seeds

A few days ago I received a text from Martin when he arrived at the Practice:  'The drive is covered in 'snow' - go photo'.  So I went out to see but unfortunately both cars had gone down the drive scattering the 'snow' to the sides.  However it was still falling.  I believe that there is a word for it when trees produce a super-abundance of seeds in a year.  Scriptor may know the answer.  I know that the Pohutukawa trees here have years when they cover the hillsides in red more densely than in other years.  Anyway that's what some of the trees in the paddock were doing and it was an amazing sight.  It lasted for a few hours.







The seeds were blowing right into the house through the ranch sliders and got everywhere.  Photographing them falling wasn't so easy but the above shot across at the trees will give you an idea of how dense the fall was.

The Scariness of Trees

Ever since I can remember I have been scared of forests. I can now cope with deciduous forests but it would take courage that I don't possess to get me to walk through a closely packed coniferous forest on my own and through any coniferous forst at night. The journey between The Cottage and The House involves negotiating a tree-lined drive. When The Cottage was built in 2007 and I came to live here (previously I lived on the outskirts of Napier) the journey at night was a trial for me and I only negotiated it with the help of outside floodlights on the House and Cottage and a torch (which could light up the whole of Napier). Tonight as I wandered down in the brilliant moonlight (without a torch and no floodlights) it ocurred to me that apart from the dangers of tripping over an unseen hazard or missimg my step I was no longer concerned about the darkness and the trees. After all these years......

Monkey Puzzle Tree Revisited

At the end of February I posted an article on the Monkey Puzzle Tree in Nelson Park. Since then the cone featured in it has sat on the deck and slowly gone brown and fallen apart.

Eucalip in Autumn

This is a eucalip next to the Cottage. It's autumn and it's just started flowering.

Wonderful Bark

A month or so ago I was in Hastings with Mo and walked down a street near the centre which was (and still is) lined with London Plane Trees. This posting has been waiting in the wings but I couldn't resist showing the bark and a tree today because I was reading the entry in CJ's Blog Pensby et al for Monday 17 March and the last topic mentioned was a London Plane Tree. The seasonal differences is rather obvious!

Monkey Puzzle Tree

In Nelson Park where I play petanque is a Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana). Described on the Napier City Council's Website Page devoted to Notable Trees Within The City as a well-shaped specimen with its characteristic straight central trunk and dome or umbrella shaped canopy with spoke-like branches. It is a female tree over 70 years old - the Araucaria araucana is usually dioecious, with the male and female cones on separate trees.

The Araucarias are a geologically ancient genus of evergreen trees endemic to South America, Australia and several Pacific Islands. Araucaria araucana is a native of Eastern South America from Chile southwards to Tierra Del Fuego. They are believed to be able to live to 1000 years and are often known as living fossils.

The rigid, prickly leaves prompted the remark "it would puzzle a monkey to climb it" giving rise to the common name "Monkey Puzzle".

The photo of the tree is from the Council's website. However it was the fact that several of the cones had dropped by the car and where we walk to and from the petanque club that prompted this posting. The cones weigh about 1.5 kilos and are too spiky to pick up. If one landed on the car or one's head the damage would be considerable or even fatal - to a human, probably not to a car!