Lane Cove National Park is one of my favourite places in the world. I have lived close to the national park for over fourteen years now and it doesn’t get boring. I always enjoy being surrounded by nature in all its forms anyway, but here I love the smell of the bush (it’s my favourite smell) and I always find something new and interesting.
One thing that I always love seeing in spring are the flowers of the gum trees. When seeing them from a distance, and close up, they really stand out against the more muted greens and browns of the rest of the bush. At the moment, Sydney red gums are looking at their best at the moment.
One of the reasons why the Sydney red gum is my favourite trees is because of the colour of the bark. Depending on the light and the time of year, the colour can vary from almost purple to red to bright orange in spring when the bark gets shed each spring.
The colours are pretty different, but I love them equally. Because the colours change over time, it keeps things interesting. The orange of this trunk is really vibrant and is so different to the tree above, but they are the same species of tree.
On my walk, I walked past the recently burnt area. I am loving the fact that there is a lot of new growth since I last came along this way.
This dwarf apple tree is happily regrowing from its epicormic buds. Epicormic buds are located on the trunks of many trees here in Australia. These buds are protected underneath the bark of the tree. I situations like a bush fire where the trees get damaged, the epicormic buds allow new growth to occur. Thus the tree is able to survive and thrive for many more years. The contrast between the fresh, bright green growth and the brown, burnt vegetation is a good sign of promise for how the forest will regenerate.
Another happy sign is this new little tree. It is a Sydney red gum. While tiny at the moment, it should grow into a very grand old tree that will be full of gnarly character. I love there colour of the new growth too.
Red seems to have been the colour of the day today. This bottle brush his an absolutely fabulous splash of red in the bush. They stand out from a distance and I think they look great. I’m going to have to do a bit of research to find out what species it is. Whatever the species, I like it.
I enjoy seeing these little flowers of the tick bush, or Kunzea ambigua. I can’t say I know much about this plant, so it is on my ‘to be researched’ list of plants to learn about! One of many, but learning about new plants keeps me interested and out of trouble!
Finally for today are these lovely pink flowers. This is another new plant for me that I don’t remember seeing before yesterday. It is a trigger plant, with the binomial name of Stylidium graminifolium. It is quite a common herb along the east coast of Australia. Very pretty.
That was my mid-week walk and I loved every minute of it. Old favourites and new plants to discover. My favourite smells and trees along my favourite walking route. Its one place that I won’t get bored of any time soon!