I half-expected to find a bat-rookery(?) when I looked up into it's hollow trunk, but there was nothing but bark - all of the fibrous innards of the tree were gone.
It was a sad sight, especially knowing that the orchard te rakau tuturu stood in was still being used as a paddock for cows and they are not gentle creatures when it comes to fragile trees. Can't be helped. I got some photos at least and I will remember the tree for a long time. The light was late-afternoon-wintery and the atmosphere poignant. Here's the shot.
6 comments:
I don't know how long ti kouka live. Do you think it predates the paddock?
Hmmmmmm....I hadn't considered that wildcrafty. I believe you might be right. There is also a very old horoeka (lancewood) probably the oldest I've seen. It's massive. I got a picture. I'll put it up now. It is poetic to think that they were there before the farming began.
Thanks for the thought. (We've just discussed it here and Robyn thinks yes, they were there first. She's got fantastic 'feeling' for orchards, as she's visited more of the very oldest Southland orchards than any living human!
Isn't that amazing that the various people left those two trees there?!
They cleared a circle in the virgin bush to establish their homesteads and they would have found it beneficial to keep some natives for shelter on the windward side, especially for their orchards!
How are those cuttings you got from our apple and pear trees going RG?
(Not Sally Smate)
Sally - I wish I could remember which Sally you are, which property you were at and when I visited!
Opologies for my befuddledness but I get around a bit. Almost all the cuttings we've grafted have taken and we have pears also, though because of the difficulties with grafting them I sent a clutch away for the professionals to do.
Robert
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