Over the weekend, I decided to get myself out for a walk through the streets of my local area. I do like living in this area of Sydney because it is really green and has plenty of large trees, especially native ones. This is what I came across along my way.

At the top of my street are two very grand gum trees. They are on the grass verge between the footpath and the road. Its amazing that they are still standing really, but they look beautiful in the sunlight-and I’m glad that they are still there.

To me, this plane tree is another tree that is brilliant to have. It’s located on the main road that runs from Sydney north all the way to Queensland (but there is a motorway now too). It isn’t the prettiest of trees, even when it’s not starting to lose its leaves for the winter. I like it because it is such a big tree that seems so out of place next to a car wash and a main road.

Next to my local train station is a little garden area that anyone can use to sit and relax, but not many do for some reason. Walking past the other day, I saw that this tibouchina tree looking fabulous with its purple flowers.

On the other side of the station is this flowering gum. I rarely see this red flowering cultivar. I love any one of these trees that I see, but I really like this one because it I rarely see it.

Next to the flowering gum are these fabulous melaleucas. I am always really happy to see fully grown trees that have grown into their natural shape. You will see what I mean later on in this post with some of the pictures that I have included.

At the opposite end of the scale is pigface (Carpobrotus), which is a native Australian succulent ground cover. I like this rather tough little plant, especially when these pretty flowers appear.

This next photo is my favourite of the year so far, mainly because I wasn’t expecting to see this butterfly on the flower. It is the second meadow argus (Junonia villidi) butterfly I have seen in as meany weeks. It must be the time of year for them to be out and about!

This lovely banksia is the heath-leaved banksia, or Banksia ericifolia. You can read more about this lovely tree here if you are interested.

While most trees in my area are evergreen, whether native or not, there is a place for the deciduous trees of the northern hemisphere. I love this one, as it is showing some fabulous ‘autumn colour’ in the urban landscape.

Camellia flowers are out and about now. I like this one due to the different shades of pink on the petals.

The fried egg plant (Gordon maxillaries) is a common street tree in my area. There are several streets where this is the case. One of the reasons why I love this small tree is the lovely bark that this tree has.

The flowers of the fried egg plant are also a really nice feature at this time of year (autumn).

There is often stands of trees in local parks, something that I really appreciate immensely as they provide plenty of shade in the heat of summer.

On my way home, I saw these two massive old trees up the road. I wouldn’t even be able to guess how old they are, but I really love old trees, especially old Eucalyptus trees!

On the opposite end of the scale is this little crepe myrtle tree. This may be more appropriate for the situation when compared to the trees above in many way as they will always remain smaller than the gum trees. I am of the view that having a large range of tree species planted along the streets of any area is really important. Having uniformity does look great, but if you have the same trees of the same age along a street, they will all die around the same time and are prone to the same pest and diseases too. So I embrace the randomised street tree look as it keeps the view more interesting, while lessening the impact from the odd dead or diseased tree.

I don’t come across many hibiscus flowers at the moment, so I was happy to see this red one. Very pretty.

This camellia is rather frilly, but there isn’t anything wrong with a bit of a frill here and there!

The ginkgo tree is infamous for being a really tough tree, that can survive anything. It is also a tree with some of the prettiest leaves of any tree going.

This massive old beauty is one of the trees I was talking about earlier. In Australia, many powerlines are above the streets, with many trees planted underneath them having to get cut back at regular intervals to prevent the chance of fires. This explains the odd angles of the branches of this tree.

The melaleuca below is another example of a tree getting cut back to avoid powerlines. The two trees either side of this paragraph are two examples of why choosing plants wisely is important-a tree should be able to grow into its natural form.

I spotted this lovely little bit of ivy that was thankfully being kept under control.

My final camellia flower for the day in a lovely deep pink colour.

I love the view looking up into the crown of this paperbark. Shame about the power lines though!

This tree is a Sydney blue gum really close to home. I love looking across at these trees.

The reason why I like Sydney blue gums is because of their bark-this rather blueish-grey bark. They aren’t as bright as the Sydney red gum, but lovely in its own right.

Around my local area, there is no shortage of plants to look at, from trees to ground covers. That’s what makes it so interesting to see. It’s a hodge hodge of plants, which is something else I do like.