Perfect Tasmanian Blue Gum for inner city garden
School's back, and it seems I have more to say about plants. Talking Plants returns, albeit now fortnightly rather than weekly. In other news, during my sabbatical I announced my resignation as Director and Executive of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, effective July 2023. Still six months in the best job in the world, and plenty of opportunities to post before and after then on plants and gardens. Now, back to (almost) normal transition with a selection of stories from that Great Southern State, Tasmania... When someone mentions the Tasmanian Blue Gum, we think of a towering tree like the ones above (to 90 metres in some Tasmanian forests), with long lanceolate leaves hanging from limbs often draped with shredded bark. Perhaps also some of that distinctive glaucous blue juvenile-foliage if the tree is damaged in some way or there are seedlings nearby. I also think of terrace houses in Melbourne, in the 1970s, courageously (aka stupidly) planting a young sapling in their tiny f