Lifting Leafy Arms Up High

Connect To Your Roots

Natal Bottle Brush tree standing proud, gnarled dark wood shielded by waving blooms in the early morning rains, packing a punch at around three meters in height, offering plenty of nectar for those on wing who enjoy sipping the freshness of Spring. Birds in the tree will be shared into #featheredfriends with @melinda010100 later in the week.

Scarlet flowers against the stark bushveld and mountains, small trees in the valley, the higher you go the less trees you will see, only reaching one meter in height, so every big tree in the valley is useful to all life.

This region survives better under grasses with lovely flowers strewn in between especially in Spring, some trees are indigenous. Many not so much with pine trees, black wattle and eucalyptus trees planted by establishments for farming or shade.

Woe be to him who plants too close to homesteads, an area known for bush fires from lightning strikes with inclement weather where you may end up with all four seasons in a day.

Protea acuminata I think this is, I may be wrong since we do have some incredible proteas in the land. One bush we saw whilst driving I was itching to get up close to see, it definitely looked like the King Protea at a lofty approximately three meters tall by what I estimated driving by.

This bush is an average one meter bush with blooms right at the top, if I identified correctly this is also known black-rim sugarbush more flowers and details will be shared in #alwaysaflower with @dswigle soon.

Not all trees are equal, some imported are thirsty and dry the land out hence we need to be wary of which trees to plant. Small animals have a positive reaction to indigenous trees and vegetation which needs to be adhered to, moving in and planting for shade or effect around establishments may not be the right decision, endangering small mammals.

Low scrub provides vegetation cover and food to many we normally do not see, with predatory flyers above the low bush is a fundamental requirement for safety.

Egyptian goose and Hadada ibis discuss life in a tree hit by lightning or fire that swept through recently.

Land on which we live, humans desperately need to think before we do, removing indigenous then planting alien trees, we need to consider the water table beneath the soil, is it sustainable, some thoughts that cross ones mind seeing lovely big trees reaching for the sky, remember roots run deep draining everything in its path.

So concludes trees seen whilst walking around last week enjoying nature. Life has changed quickly with something different happening all the time, we must keep humans and nature in balance for future generations.