We planted a tree at Macquarie Working Bee!
On Sunday we planted our very first tree for National Tree Day. A heartfelt thanks to those Macquarie parents and kids that attended our little ceremony, to those families that joined us especially for the occasion, to the photographers, to the Headmaster for his support and helping us eat those home baked cakes and to Scarlett Q and her assistants who helped me plant the tree.
We started our little ceremony with a recognition of the traditional custodians of this land, the Guringai people, followed by a beautiful poem by Kristof Nordin called Plant a Tree . After a word from the Headmaster, our little tree was put in the garden bed between Top House and the Music Centre with the assistance of Scarlett, who earlier this year already expressed her keen interest in gardening and joining a John Colet Garden Club.
The tree we selected is a White Aspen (Latin name Acronychia oblongifolia) and I particularly loved it as it’s a small tree, endemic to the region with attractive foliage and edible white fruits. The fruits are used in bushtucker and have an orange flavour with a hint of aromatic pepper. But don t get too excited yet, it may take a little while before we get to the fruit stage. Our tree was planted following NSW Forestry guidelines, i.e. small tubes that according to research have the best chances of survival and outgrowing larger plant sizes. As someone mentioned on the day From little things, big things grow .
Alexandra D
Garden Club organiser
