I love looking at the planting around my local swimming pool. It’s full of native plants and trees. My husband dropped me off at the pool and I had a few minutes to have a look at some plants before he came to pick me up again.
We have the white flowers of this broad-leaved paperbark, specifically Melaleuca quinquenervia. They are very similar to callistemon trees and shrubs. They are attractive to birds and other wildlife, as well as to humans.
Gum trees are always one of my favourites, and often really hard to tell apart too. My plant identification app says it’s lemon-scented gum (Corymbia citriodora), but I’m not convinced-its bark is a bit different and the branches aren’t as interesting-they are too straight. I could, of course, be completely wrong myself! Either way, I like this tree which is the point.
I love the colour of these leaves, which come from the tree above. Funnily enough, the app that I mentioned above says that the leaves come from a river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), which is another fabulous tree. Again, I don’t think it is as the bark on the tree above isn’t mottled enough. It’s also not a common tree in Sydney. The leaves of these trees are always interesting, mainly because I’m a plant nerd!
Another eucalyptus tree as I liked the shape of this one, along with the colour of its leaves.
Finally, I can’t go past a flowering gum without taking a photo of the flowers when I see them, they are always so bright against the dark green leaves.
While writing this today, I have decided that I am going to have to find a course on gum tree identification, when I eventually have the time. Various places do them and I think it would be really helpful for me long-term. Finding the time will be the hard part over the next few months, but I’ll add it to my ever expanding to-do list!