....with a distinctive silhouette
Dear Tigger,
We are missing your furrings and purrings and hope that you are being kind to the YAM-aunty. Today we send you some postcards of NZ native plants that make very distinctive silhouettes on New Zealand's skyline in places. We have also included one that would be at your eye level, although, you might not appreciate its English name.
Harakeke had many uses in Maori culture and was processed industirally by early Pakeha settlers to make corxage and a jute substitute for sack material. Your F used to build little boats out of its balsa-like flowers stems.
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| Nikau - Rhopalostylis sapida |
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| Harakeke - Flax - phormium tenax |
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| Ti Kouka - Cabbage tree - cordyline australis |
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| Powawao - Hound's Tongue - zealandia pustulata |
F also wrote that she has included a couple of postcards of said plants at work in a wider landscape and that I should also note the tree fern of which there are many fine examples among New Zealands flora (she added that the Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa.)
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteOooh, Tigger, F's postcards are just wonderful, aren't they? I do so love to see the different foliage - even those called by other critters' names! We can let F and Mr B know that we are getting along just fine, is it not so??? Hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx
Wonderful stomping grounds. Thanks for the pictures. I hear there's some movement about restoring the original name to the country.
ReplyDeletethey really are striking when you see them against the horizon like that.
ReplyDeleteVery much like art work in the garden. Only alive and thriving. Beautiful
Those are some weird and wonderful looking plants.
ReplyDeleteI'm just, er, wondering, are they 'terrier friendly', i.e. fun to dig up.
Toodle-oo!
Nobby/
More 'terrier resistant' than terrier friendly.... see following post....paw smacks Mr T
DeleteI recognise the Phormiums Tigger. You see lots of them in coastal gardens here in West Cork.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to see so many of those plants thriving here too. The Cabbage Tree is called a Manx Palm here!
ReplyDeleteImpressive plants - they really enhance the wide skies and open spaces.
ReplyDeleteNZ looks a lot like Florida as does Austrialia. we call them cabbage palms here. I am sure Tigger loved the letters back home. He and his Auntie Yam did well together
ReplyDeleteWonderful to see these photos of the native plants and the landscape. Wonderful scenery
ReplyDeleteI hope you are both enjoying your time here.
ReplyDelete