This tree is known as the pohutakawa in New Zealand. They grow hundreds of metres tall, have a bright red bloom, and flower around Christmas time in the Antipodes where the seasons are the opposite to Europe's, hence its place at Christmas time in New Zealand.
We have a few planted in the most inappropriate places at my workplace, the Mediterreanean Agronomic Institute of Chania: on a window sill and as a potted plant. No wonder they will never thrive...
Click here to see a real pohutukawa in all its Christmas glory.
It could be hundreds of meters tall? Wow!
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you have transplanted yourself in the right place.
Nice to see where you work. Looks interesting.
Are you in the photo of the Institute?
ReplyDeleteInteresting how plants behave in several places!
Thanks for your sweet comment!
Hundreds of meters high? I'd like to see those woods! Aloha-
ReplyDeleteThank you for the nice posts. I loved them all. Especially the anniversary of Crete.
ReplyDeletePoor thing will end up as a bonsai.
ReplyDeleteI admit I wondered a bit when I saw the title and picture. A Christmas tree hundreds of meters tall? That would be troublesome to get into the living room. (BTW - can a tree get much over 100 metre tall??)
ReplyDeleteπολύ όμορφο
ReplyDeletewhen i was living in new zealand, i was so short i thought pohutukawas were hundreds of meters tall - of course 20 meters sound about right; a bit like a giant shrub...
ReplyDeleteI like the name "pohutukawas' must comes from natives in N.Z.
ReplyDeleteOh, now I get it. So it's all a matter of perspective... Maria, you kidder, you. :)
ReplyDeleteToday I found out that the fruits we talked about in the Advent greens were from the local Arbutus "Eastern strawberry tree" (Hebrew ktalav). I posted about the tree many times; I should have recognized them.
Oh my your pohutakawa looks truly pathetic. Here some shots of some decent ones from around the neighbourhood. In NZ they are everywhere !!!
ReplyDelete[http://www.flickr.com/photos/kostaki-h/3087293987/]