Wattle Trees - Early Days
The Wattle Woods Garden was named after ten large Wattle, or Acacia, trees - fast growing Australian natives which have bright yellow flowers from early winter on. These trees had been interplanted with Eucalypts along the fence-line of our property.
Wattle Trees
I developed the Wattle Woods Garden underneath, and in those early days I imagined the trees would last forever. Not sure that The Wattle-Less Woods would have been a very evocative name for a garden area!
Wattle Trees
Wattles grow rapidly but they have a short lifespan - typically from 10 to 20 years. In the early years they suffered wind and snow damage, and some crashed to the ground, providing good firewood. Then one day, when the arborist was here cleaning and trimming, I did a tree head-count. Oops. Only four mature trees were left standing, plus a few seedling juveniles.
One of the remaining Wattle trees.
Looked like I would soon be having a Wattle Woods with no wattles...
Interesting shapes...
Dappled afternoon sunlight would fall on the Wattle Woods, always making the shapes of the tree trunks look interesting. In my early photographs some were on desperate leans. I brightly commented that they wouldn't fall over. Oh really?
leaning tree trunks - 2004
Below is a very early photograph, taken in the year 1998. The leaning Wattle tree was a little more upright then.
leaning tree trunks - 1998
Prophetic words, which I wrote back in 1998 : 'And maybe one day soon, by the laws of Physics, the leaning Wattles will pass the point of no return...Oh yes - they did just that!