Saturday, November 9, 2013

A TIME OF BEAUTY AND DANGER


Across   North   Australia  right  now  many trees  are a  glorious , colourful   sight.  Poincianas , in particular , are  a mass  of  red   ,  especially  in  North  Queensland .  There   the  dry  conditions  seem   responsible  for   the   magnificent  showing  of  Frangipani ,   Temple  Tree   fragrance    filling  the air .   Storms   with  associated  strong  winds  and  heavy  rain  have   brought  down   a number  of  shallow rooted ,  fast  growing   African   Mahogany   trees   across  roads  in  Darwin . This has again caused   some people  to  state that  they  are  not suited  for  the  tropics  and a  danger to  people and  houses . However ,  Kerry  Byrnes  , of  Arnhem Nursery,  Humpty Doo ,  springs  to  the  defence of  the African Mahogany,  saying   the  trees  need  to  be  planted   in  specially  dug  deep  holes  . Because  much of  Darwin  is  on  shallow   lateritic  rock ,  the    roots   of   the   African  Mahogany  spread  along   it  and ,  growing tall,  are  thus  likely  to  be  bowled   over  in a   blow  . Dig  deep .  There is a  mahogany  plantation  in  the Daly River   region  with  talk of  a  large scale  Sandalwood  plantation down  Katherine .