Happy New Year! Welcome to our very first photo of the week for the year.
Did you welcome in 2014 with fireworks? We missed the pyrotechnic displays but have taken some inspiration from the flowering tī kōuka/cabbage tree which we think are the botanical equivalents of an exploding fireball lighting up the sky.
Tī kōuka are one of the most distinctive trees in the New Zealand landscape, especially on farms. They grow all over the country, but prefer wet, open areas like swamps.
This photo was taken by Jon Sullivan | CC BY-NC 2.0
The flowering on the Cabbage Trees this season has been enormous. I have traveled a good part of the South Island since early November the heavy flowering. Some plants its difficult to see the leaves for the flower heads. One of my favorite spots is the camp ground at Rakaia Gorge where there are several huge specimens. Experts have said these could be as much as 500 years old.
The Native wood Pigeons are gorging themselves on them every day.
It certainly is a wonderful thing to see and appreciate.
From cold and snow covered Ontario you picture was a joy to see