TREE JUNKIE          - 24/4/2006      <--Prev : Next-->



TREE JUNKIE

I know perfectly well that one is not supposed to follow ones children around the world once they have grown up and left home, but most mothers I am sure, feel the same way that I do and wish to be close to their offspring.

However my children were very circumspect when they made their choice of countries, once they fled the coop after University.

He Who Must Purify Gold and She Who Must Run, made their way to Perth in Western Australia and She Who Must Sing decided on Waco in Texas.

Now these were obviously carefully thought out and premeditated choices, because neither Perth nor Waco have any trees, and they know that Mother cannot live where there are no trees.

Cunning Little Blighters !!

I know in both those areas you have to sweep up your own leaves but is this any reason at all not to plant trees, lots of trees, even evergreen trees, if it means not having to sweep up the leaves !!

One would have thought that, having been born in a garden which boasts the biggest tree in the entire city of Bulawayo, that they too would have a mad love affair with trees, just like their Mum, but then perhaps it is something that comes with age.

Our main tree is a Mozambican Fig and was the original Enid Blyton neighbourhood FarawayTree as far as every child in Bulawayo was concerned.

Apart from housing Dame Washalot and Mr Saucepanman, it also houses two nesting Hammerkops, a pair of Gymnogenes and several sets of Paradise Fly Catchers, who have to fight for their lives daily as you can imagine with all the lurking predators.

Our suburb has the most incredible amount of wonderful shady trees and it is hard to imagine how any other city fathers have have not tried to emulate our beautiful city.

Mother always used to say that one should plant a tree for every year of ones life and HeeHoo and I have certainly done our bit for the climate as far as that is concerned.

Among the trees we have planted over the years in various parts of the country are Cassias, Baobabs, Flamboyants, Erythrinas, Acacias, Natal Mahogany, Kya Nyasicas, avocado trees, lemon trees, Ficus Leratus, Ficus Benjamina and dozens of indigenous trees whose names escape me.

I must admit we have still a way to go because I doubt if the little copse of trees we planted on our "ex farm" have survived, but we will make sure that our legacy lives on, arboreally at least, if in no other way !!

And so to my Little Darlings, until you move to a more civilised part of the world where there are lots of trees, you can be sure that Mother will stay put under the spreading wings of the family Faraway Tree and count her blessings instead of hankering after her offspring !!

'The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.' an African saying

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