why am I such a sucker for late afternoon light?

In an earlier post I mentioned some trees we planted about nine years ago. These were to take our remnant native vegetation up to the boundary and down to the little beginnings of the Yan Yan Gurt Creek, which eventually flows into the Barwon River. The new trees are just visible as an almost vertical line of darker vegetation on the left hand edge of the bush in this photo. (The 'bush' or forest is in the bottom right hand corner- click on the pic for a larger view) It was amazingly difficult for these trees and shrubs to survive even though they faced onto a large patch of mature forest. The prevailing winds played a part in restraining natural regeneration by seed and the Wallabies and Kangaroos used the shelter to emerge from and eat our little seedlings.

Our local tree guru supplied some spray on 'goo' to discourage the furry raiders and this was made from iron filings, milk powder and glue (as I recall), and this was enough to put a bad taste in the mouth while little stems turned into spindly trunks which took leaves high enough to escape the foragers. Some seedlings are still only a foot high all these years later, but they live and will grow when the times are right. Others are tall and straight and already trying to cast their seed around them.

Mike and Wendy Robinson-Koss run a wonderful business generating seedlings and planting trees in our region, and have probably been involved in more tree planting than anyone else since these forests evolved themselves. There is a link to their 'Otway Greening' web site in the right column. It is a model for business and communities wanting to re-claim pillaged and over-worked landscapes.