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Australia
I ran away from teaching to the country to grow veggies. There are also some chooks and a pair of troublesome goats who were so much trouble they had to go! My simple green life isn't always as simple or as green as I'd like...but I keep trying!

Monday, February 14, 2011

One of my favourite gums.


I just wanted to share this eucalyptus citriodora  on the vacant block next door.  These trees are natives of Queensland but do well in the southern states too.
As their name suggests they have a lemony smell and can grow up to 50 metres tall.

 This one has recently shed its bark and is a warm coppery, orange colour.  The colour of the trunk and branches change over the year from this colour through to mottled white.

I have a friend who has one of these in her front yard and she painted her house trim to match the trunk...but it only matches it at this time of the year.  Mind you, it looks great when it is matching.

They are quite stunning trees.  This one has just finished flowering and was a mass of cream flowers on its canopy.  The birds loved it.


8 comments:

  1. Beaudy! Our neighbour has one too which luckily for us is right on the fenceline so we get the benefit of it's beauty and gorgeousness as the sun hits it.
    Happy Valentine's Day!

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  2. When I hear Eucalyptus it makes me think of those cute looking Koala bears.

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  3. We have a few on our place Hazel - they're lovely aren't they.

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  4. A good-looking tree, for sure. Are gum trees difficult to climb (especially down from)? When in an awkward position, people used to say "now you're really up a gum tree". A strange saying. Do you know its origin?

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  5. Aaah the lemon scented gum. My favourite too. It was the first tree Monkey Man and I planted when we got together 8 years ago. Unfortunately it is doing very badly in our back yard. Not a very smart tree to plant in our smallish space so maybe it's just as well.

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  6. It's a great tree - but I can't help but notice the bush behind it as well. You are so lucky.

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  7. Sorry Mark, I don't know the origin of that saying. I always found gum trees very easy to climb ... both up and down...when I was in my climbing heyday. LOL.

    Kim, did you know that Koalas are not bears at all? They are marsupials.

    Missy, I love living here. The bush is looking lovely now, two years on from the Black Saturday fires. The lemon scented gum is on the vacant block next door. The neighbouring house was lost in the fires, as was the one over the road and a couple of trees went in our back yard. We bought after the fires though.

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  8. Hi again, Hazel; I went and looked up the origin of that saying - here's a link to an explanation: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/up-a-gum-tree.html

    Seems like possums have contributed a lot to our language (playing possum whilst resting contentedly up gum trees)...

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