Camping simply and self-sufficiently for a week on a friend’s conservation property was partly healing and partly depressing, as it reiterated to me that this is the way I’d rather live.
Thousands of trees have been raised from seeds and planted here, but just near me was this self-sown grove of young Red Box, which were actually forming almost a mist of blue-green.
Amongst the blue was a surprising amount of delicate pink leaves.
Nearby were stunning trees, Coomber Stringybark, with their pendulous branches of blue leaves. This species is only found in this area west of Rylstone.
There is a lot of mistletoe here, of several species. Try as it might, mistletoe never quite manages to exactly imitate its host tree’s leaves. Apart from the colour, the shape is pretty close on this Stringybark.
This one is less successful in its mimicry.
And if the Red Box chooses pink as the perfect colour opposite to vary their leaf colours, the Angophora Floribunda chooses yellow.
So why are children taught to only colour leaves green?
A lovely theme of coloured leaves, Sharyn! It is a wonderful thought about how we could expand our concept of the colour of Eucalypt leaves!
Ah, the sorrow caused by
the expanding mine territory and effect on lives and landscape : every clean, healthy leaf is needed to counteract the air pollution that comes with the leaded air.
Good Morning Sharyn. You must be camping near my old territory. We were at “Pine Brae” , Lue on Pyangle Road for nearly forty years. We built our little house and grew everything ourselves. Put in hundreds of local native trees and shrubs. Really cared for the land. We had our bit of paradise but the dreaded Silver Mine drove us away. I am in the Hawkesbury Highlands now. For each era of our lives there is a place.