The little ants climbing around in there will probably help that along. We have a flower here (peony) that ants like to crawl all over and it supposedly is good for the plant. Good catch!
@olivetreeann Hi Ann - I'll keep my fingers crossed that the ants do their job. The flowers smelt delicious - just like honey - no wonder the ants were there! :)
I have never seen a Eucalypt flowers - didn't know they had them! Very familiar with the leaves and bark but not the flowers. What a magnificent firework-like explosion of fine petals! I love it. Love the photo bombing ant too!
@Casablanca@woofandweft1 Hi Casablanca and Deborah - I hadn't thought of it but it is quite hard to see the flowers - so high up. They are a bit strange - no petals - the fine hairs are the stamen. They have a hard "gum cap' covering those when they are a bud - and the whole cap falls off to release the stamens. The flower then forms the typical "gum nut" which holds the seeds. They use differences in the cap and nut to help identify different species. All quite interesting and very much a part of the aussie psyche! These one have a fantastic honey smell. Thanks for your interest. Cheers Rob
@granagringa Hi Madeline - probably not for many years on the trees we've planted. But we do have lots of mature trees in the forest areas. We have had a few koalas in them - the really dry weather is a bit rough on them - they don't normally drink water but just live on the gum leaves. When the trees and leaves are dry it's not good. Possums and gliders eat the flowers though.
December 17th, 2017
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