And I Said There Were No Flowers

So it's not a vegetable and usually I think the non-munchable stuff is pretty boring, but this is our tree, and it's special.

I am pretty sure I've blathered on about it before, but that was in the depths of winter, now I get to show you the first of the summer flowers.

It's a massive tree, right smack bang in the middle of our backyard. And it's special for a few reasons. It loses its leaves in winter, leaving the yard lovely and sunny to potter around in. Then it leafs right up in summer, and it means that even at midday on the hottest Brisbane days, we can relax under it in the garden and enjoy the cool shade.

And the best thing of course is the huge big horizontal branches. Fabulous for climbing, and just right for a tyre swing. Thanks for the tyre Drew :)

And yes, I know they are a pest here... but still beautiful. The tree I mean.

So the poinciana does lose its leaves, but apparently it's not to do with the cold so much as rainfall. If there isn't a lot of rain during the winter, it will lose its leaves, if there is rain aplenty, some of the leaves do drop, but certainly not all. This year it still had a lot of growth on it during winter, so it seems to hold pretty true.

And it grows! If we don't cut it back, the branches touch the ground by the end of summer. It's kind of cool for a while, like being in another world under the canopy, but it starts to get a little claustrophobic after a while, and I go wild hacking away at it. I really need to have it professionally lopped, but I do adore playing with the ratchet.