My backyard is perfect to me. It is bushland acreage on the city-country fringe of Brisbane. It’s fairly inaccessible (or at least that’s what I tell myself after living here for years and never having been to the back boundary of the property) so really it’s only good for looking at. But what a view! Gumtrees roll out over the little hills and valleys beyond my balcony and I can see all the way to D’Aguilar National Park.
I love the wildlife that comes with a bushland backyard too. The range of birds that inhabit the area is amazing. There is everything from Tawny Frogmouths to Pacific Bazas to King Parrots to Channel-billed Cuckoos, the list really seems endless (**ALERT – A BIRD NERD IS WRITING THIS BLOG POST**). And then there are the wallabies, possums, snakes, goannas, insects, dingos – we even saw the Easter Bunny once but I have since been told it was a hare.
But for now, back to the gumtrees. One of the main inspirations for our Spring collection of works is the eucalyptus tree. Both Brooksy and myself have backyards that are just loaded with them. I feel like it’s the way a home should be – with gumtrees visible from every window (I am a little biased though:). There are so many things I love about them. The sounds that they make when ribbons of bark start to come off and blow in the wind. It is like a soft wooden wind chime. The little wispy blossoms that completely cover my deck after a windy day. The tiny little gumnuts I find on the ground that remind me of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. And the beautiful smell of freshly crushed leaves in my hand.
I have a range of eucalyptus in my backyard but I am certainly no expert. Up until recently I had been mistakenly calling the bloodwood gumnuts, ironbark gumnuts. They are actually very different in size with the bloodwood gumnut getting much bigger in length. And while I am yet to work out the different species I have in my backyard, I do know that I have ironbarks, bloodwoods, half-barks, spotted gums and gum-barks. I guess I need to plant some paper barks for good measure!
I have a lot to learn about our beautiful natives and sometimes that learning is best done through art. Other times it is best done through planting and growing. Right now I am the proud parent to a very small “Rose of the West” Eucalyptus tree. It is about 3 months old and only a few centimetres high. After carefully planting about 50 or so seeds I have managed to raise one tiny seedling. I sometimes laugh at this ratio, at other times it makes me think just how precious every single little seedling is. If I can only grow one out of fifty seeds then how on Earth does Mother Nature do it? Especially with the (manmade) elements stacked against her. ( I realise that there are many elements that could have prevented my seeds from growing such as the climate (La Nina hanging around for months…….. and months… and the fact that they are smoke activated but I did try my best).
And with that, I will finish my little ode to the gumtree for now and leave you with some of the eucalyptus barks in my backyard that inspired the Wild Garden collection. Oh and a baby photo of little Rosie too :)
Kerrin
