8 May 2012

The Government wants you to get out and look at the leaves

| johnboy
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leaves

Territory and Municipal Services want you to get out and about and enjoy just how good their street trees are looking at this time of year as the leaves come down:

With autumn now in full swing, people are encouraged to visit some of the streets and local parks in inner Canberra to see our trees in full colour.

“Canberra is renowned for its landscaped streets, public parks, planted road medians and gardens, which during autumn see green trees change into a brilliant display of gold, red, ochre and crimson,” said Michael Brice, Manager, Urban Treescapes.

Some of the best locations include:

— ornamental pears on the lake promenade near the National Library of Australia
— a number of the Claret ash streets in Dickson and Downer
— Red oak streets including La Perouse Street in Red Hill, Harris Street in Hackett, Edkins Street in
— Downer and the park at the corner of Hobart Avenue and Empire Circuit in Forrest
— Liquidambars at Manuka Shops and Investigator Street in Red Hill
— Chinese Pistachio at Garran Shops, Hicks Street in Red Hill and Gardiner Street in Downer.

leaves

Photos courtesy of TAMS. Here’s RiotACT’s full slideshow of autumn leaves for 2012. If you’ve got more send it in to images@the-riotact.com .

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wildturkeycanoe said :

I cannot believe the taxpayer funded someone to research, draft, compile and then print this trash! Most of us have known since pre-school that trees lose leaves in Autumn and they look pretty. We don’t need to waste money having the government remind us. I would honestly love to see the dollar attached to this document and its production.
And, not all people see these leaves in the same light. Many are frustrated annually by having to rake them up and find somewhere to pile them so the lawn doesn’t get killed.
About time the gov is to axe PS jobs, if watching leaves is high on their salaried agenda.

What a grinch – for a start it doesn’t seem to be a taxpayer funded piece of research at all mainly a press release by the body which is responsible for looking after street trees which if you are fortunate enough to live in a suburb which has these trees is likely to greatly increase the value of your property. These trees are well established and given they pretty much do the same thing every year its obvious what are the best streets to go and look at.

Its a bit of a yawn really when people rant about poor taxpayers all the time…

Is the leaf blower the ultimate metaphor for the PS? Makes a lot of noise and hot air, annoys a lot of people, wastes resources and generally only pushes the problem from here to there?

I’m currently an inner-inner-city urbanite and at about 7.30-ish this morning we got hit with a bit of a tornado. But the winds at that time were doing amazing things to the leaves in the squares around Hobart Place. It was like someone was choreographing them in some sort of interperative dance.

Stunning stuff. Thank Jebus the cod-awful leaf-blowers hadn’t been at that stage.

Actually, I was walking along London Circuit near the Uni Bar about the same time yesterday morning and there was an old bloke out there (wait for it) sweeping the leaves away with a broom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broom — just in case) and I nearly fell to my knees and wept in thanks. He was glad that someone was appreciating this eco-friendly, non-noise-polluting activity.

wildturkeycanoe said :

I cannot believe the taxpayer funded someone to research, draft, compile and then print this trash! Most of us have known since pre-school that trees lose leaves in Autumn and they look pretty. We don’t need to waste money having the government remind us. I would honestly love to see the dollar attached to this document and its production.
And, not all people see these leaves in the same light. Many are frustrated annually by having to rake them up and find somewhere to pile them so the lawn doesn’t get killed.
About time the gov is to axe PS jobs, if watching leaves is high on their salaried agenda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnFr-DOPf8

Eucalypts are not drab, they just have a more subtle beauty. The bark and leaves differ between species and the small flowers often have a sweet smell and attract native birds. And the same people who whinge about them dropping things are celebrating leaves that all fall off deciduous trees en masse.

It’s like the difference between the National Botanic Gardens and Floriade; one is beautiful all year round, and the other is a festival of bright bulbous explosions that last a couple of weeks.

miz said :

Eucalypts are terrible in suburbia. They tend to look drab all year, drop stuff all year including huge branches, don’t live very long compared to deciduous trees and it is almost impossible to grow anything around them due to their natural monoculture tendencies.
Lovely in the bush. Hopefully those suburbs filled with near-dead gum trees eg Wanniassa have a deciduous shade tree replant scheduled.

I tend to agree, living, as I do, in a natives-only suburb. The deciduous-planted suburbs are a real treat at the moment.

Still, it could be worse. I could live in a suburb where the blocks and verges (where they exist) are too small to ever have trees of any kind.

Eucalypts are terrible in suburbia. They tend to look drab all year, drop stuff all year including huge branches, don’t live very long compared to deciduous trees and it is almost impossible to grow anything around them due to their natural monoculture tendencies.
Lovely in the bush. Hopefully those suburbs filled with near-dead gum trees eg Wanniassa have a deciduous shade tree replant scheduled.
I have made it my business to plant as many deciduous shade trees in my garden as I can – have planted at least 15 so far – silver birch, crabapple, pistachia chinensis, fruit trees. Gotta say, it’s starting to look lovely and has been worth the effort.

wildturkeycanoe6:09 am 11 May 12

I cannot believe the taxpayer funded someone to research, draft, compile and then print this trash! Most of us have known since pre-school that trees lose leaves in Autumn and they look pretty. We don’t need to waste money having the government remind us. I would honestly love to see the dollar attached to this document and its production.
And, not all people see these leaves in the same light. Many are frustrated annually by having to rake them up and find somewhere to pile them so the lawn doesn’t get killed.
About time the gov is to axe PS jobs, if watching leaves is high on their salaried agenda.

Sic said :

Unfortunately I live in one of those suburbs where the government decided gum tree’s that’ll fall on your house and short lifespan dying wattles were a better idea.

Eucalypts, being beautiful all year round, are certainly a major problem.

Unfortunately I live in one of those suburbs where the government decided gum tree’s that’ll fall on your house and short lifespan dying wattles were a better idea.

It would be nice to go visit the streets with the most striking trees. Though I must say that I mostly enjoy the unexpected beauties. You know, when you turn a corner and your eyes are drawn to the stunning brightly coloured autumn tree against a deep blue (or even better against dark grey storm clouds!) and contrasted by the surrounding gum trees. Even better if there are some cockatoos with the morning sun on their wings flying over too. I stopped this morning to soak up a view like that in the park near my house. And fortunately there was no one around to hear my “F***’n beautiful!” exclamation.

government actively promoting an active lifestyle – seems like a job well done; perhaps this should be replicated more often…

It’s not a bad idea to bang the drum a bit. People in warmer areas get pretty excited about our turning of the season. In the US, they’ve made quite a business out of the tourists who flock to New England to view the foliage. Leaf Peepers, they call them.

pikiran_keruh6:54 pm 08 May 12

Pin oaks in Yarralumla…raking, raking, raking

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