Across North
Australia right now
many trees are a glorious , colourful sight. Poincianas , in particular , are a mass
of red , especially in
North Queensland . There the
dry conditions seem responsible for the magnificent
showing of Frangipani , Temple
Tree fragrance filling the air .
Storms with associated strong
winds and heavy rain have brought
down a number of shallow rooted , fast
growing African
Mahogany trees across roads in Darwin . This has again caused some people to state
that they are not
suited for the tropics
and a danger to people and
houses . However , Kerry Byrnes
, of Arnhem Nursery, Humpty Doo , springs
to the defence of
the African Mahogany, saying the trees
need to be
planted in specially
dug deep holes
. Because much of Darwin
is on shallow lateritic
rock , the roots
of the African Mahogany
spread along it and , growing tall,
are thus likely
to be bowled
over in a blow
. Dig deep . There is a
mahogany plantation in the Daly
River region with talk of a large scale Sandalwood plantation down Katherine
.
