You can see what I mean about cars now Boa from those pics.
So how old, is the oldest Jacaranda around Brisbane I wonder? I know I've seen a couple of other big huas in inner city blocks and they're breaking up, maybe 80 years+ is it for suburbia for an imported species.
Anyway, they are old and that's why they succumb to things easier. About 2.5 years ago they took out another further around by the river side (still next to road but on river side of ring road). We happened to be in that park for my college course and we checked a few and were surprised they weren't felled.
That one, after we all inspected it was felled not long after.
The other thing, for that Jacaranda with the wind blowing that direction ... it's a fringe tree now. But it grew up all it's life in that environment, even got mulched and watered and pruned a bit here and there.
I would say, as far as tree care goes, it got a better share than most trees. But maybe 80 to 100 year old Jacarandas are toward the end of their life cycle in an urban system ...
... you know, pollution, traffic, pedestrians, dogs etc all bringing their own forms of toxins and pathogens in.
Now, the two across the road went from a fully foliage looking tree to a dead one with fruiting bodies in like 12 months.
The thing is it's either green or dead, not much in between in most cases. The hard part is looking after green trees, be like sending healthy people to the doctor, but by the time we see the problems it can be too late. The pathogen has multiplied. Secret is as the tree gets older it needs more TLC and it's requirements for sustenance is insatiable, it needs a lot of resources.
Personally, having gone there so many times and slowly watched the deterioration I think it's a natural course of events.
Boa, in shot 5, cast you eyes over the fig in the background on the top LH side, those canopies are pretty sparse too now.
It's not a year of drought, but like 4 years of low rainfall. To a tree that's lived with it's 1200mm of rain a year to suffer 4 years of little rain when it's a big mature tree it will be susceptible to problems, and here the problems are at ground level. What you see in the canopy is just a reflexion. |