The Chief Minister has proudly announced that he and the Japanese ambassador have planted the first of 320 cherry trees in his shiny arboretum.
Today, we embark upon the planting of a grove of 320 Yoshino Cherry trees, to mark the 15th anniversary of our sister-city relationship with Nara, the ancient capital of Japan,” Mr Stanhope said. “This is a significant milestone in the development of the Arboretum and symbolises the close relationship Australia shares with Japan
Our very own Sakura festival coming right up.
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you know where stanhope can put his cherry tree?
Stay classy…
Up his ar… boretum?
*sigh* another prunus genus to add to these lists here – prunus x yedoensis is its botanical name.
Thanks Japan. They are also only mildly drought tolerant, in Japan. Most photos of Japans countryside I have seen have been lovely and green, not quite the suitable environment one might think for such a gift.
But it’ll only be a small diplomatic incident when we next butt horns over some whales, and coincidentally our environment kills off the 320 gifts…
Not like that whole Manchuria misunderstanding.
Well if you’re going to ask the rest of the world to send us trees you can expect they’ll need more water than the local environment provides.
Mælinar – *spoiler alert* I’ve seen S04E13 said :
Dont worry, Mael: no doubt the Japs have included chopped up whale as fertiliser/mulch.
One hopes these trees will be grafted onto more tolerant root stock enabling them handle the ravages of a canberra climate. But then again that requires the government to listen to advise from those who grow them…
S4anta said :
No, you’ve got it all wrong – the new pre-election ACT Labor loves public consultation!
One hopes these trees will be grafted onto more tolerant root stock enabling them handle the ravages of a canberra climate
Many regions of Japan actually have almost identical climates to Canberra, so the Cherry trees will be fine.
I’m amazed that this is the first I’ve heard about the arboretum on RA, and it was only last week that I had heard anything at all about it. Has there been previous posts on here about it?
Personally, I think it’s a brilliant idea. Certainly a nicer idea than a hill full of pine trees. Canberra has so much to benefit from the arboretum over time. From my understanding there will be beautiful parks, restaurants, cafe’s etc etc. If there is anywhere in Australia that needs something like this, it’s Canberra. We need to have more to draw people to the nations capital. The War Memorial, National Museum, APH and National Library are all great – but in the long-term an arboretum could be a big draw for Canberra all year round that the short time that Floriade is on. It could be an iconic feature of Australia.
Get behind it Canberra and support the arboretum instead of just knocking it and coming up with lame racial jokes about Japan. The Japanese cherry trees are just a small part of such a big plan. Try not to be so short sighted and narrow-minded.
Um, we also have this odd thing called the National Botanic gardens.
just thought I’d mention this
Indeed Thumper – but the difference between the both is vastly different
Indeed. An arboretum is a plot of land to grow plants for study or display, while a botanical garden is a garden for the exhibition and scientific study of plants.
G-Fresh said :
eh?
what?
still want to know why it was built on a hill…. cost of pumping water up hill is greater than on the flats.
And we already have an arboretum down by the lake near the old Museum site if I remember correctly…
mutley…again said :
Is that what it is?
I just thought it was the scary public toilet with the strange men who wander in with you when you take a leak. don’t know why they were there, but I didn’t hang around to find out.
bit of a concern. must admit, didn’t notice any trees at the time.
peterh said :
The “strange men” were probably looking for ‘wood’!
Win News tonight, Stanhope and co claiming that it will rival the Australian War Memorial and be Canberra’s biggest attraction.
Spare me, have you seen the conceptual drawings of the place. Normally those images show something wonderful, more so than we can really expect. The ones for the arboretum look boring and dull. Just big concrete paths, grass areas and stands of trees. Bah. Give these people air, there’s obviously not enough getting to their brains.
el said :
GOLD!
mutley…again said :
The ACT had dozens of smaller arboretums including several around Brindabella. Dated back to the early 1900s when Weston was finding out which plants would grow in the Canberra climate. A lot were cleared out by the fires.
Let’s just hope there are no young aspiring George Washington types locally.
Subtle jonathon…
very subtle
ANyone seen Jessica Good tonight?
She’s showing heaps of cleavage tonight…
Personally I like the idea of the arboretum. A forest with rec areas, walking tracks, performance venues. When it matures, it’ll be top notch. Unfortunately it’ll probably take 20+ years to get there.
I reckon the big tall conifers down at the Cotter Reserve went a long way to making that spot a Canberra favourite. I’ve spent many a January saturday/sunday down there at family bbqs, with plenty of cool shade.
The two complaints that I think have a valid argument are the ones of water during a drought, and competing priorities for taxpayer dollars. Otherwise I’m all for it.
There’s some kind of arboretum out beyond Fairbairn, too. Mainly spruce-y type conifers, and lately they’ve been succumbing to some nasty tree disease. It’s that stand on the left as you’re heading to Qbn, roughly opposite the entrance to the concrete dump.
320 cherry trees will be rather nice, I hope they grow quickly so we can enjoy them soon. Ditto the rest of the arboretum. This is a better thing than a motorway/racetrack.