Hoop pine and new bridge

Garden club meeting today at Robyns at Canungra - a lovely part of South East Queensland especially at present after so much rain.

Canungra Hoop pine

One of the features of her yard that especially caught my eye was the magnificent Hoop pines -some singles and others in delightful groves.
It makes my 20 year old specimen look quite puny.

Canungra Hoop pine

Hoop pine is  the common name for Araucaria cunninghamii.  Another of this genus is Bunya pine  or Araucaria bidwillii.  Hoop pine  grow up to 60m in height , live for up to 450 years and can take up to 200 years before producing any cones. The timber has a lovely texture and colour when used in cabinet work or furniture.

our tree- 20 years old approx

I only got home mid afternoon after stopping at the Canungra Hotel with some others from the club for lunch.  There was a large contingent of a motorcycle club present but we managed to "out noise" them with much banter and laughter. Who would have though a group of garden enthusiasts could be so rowdy!










With the remaining afternoon, however, I got into constructing the bridge
- 2 old railway sleepers set on concrete blocks with a decking of old cattle yard timber rails. It looks great  and is certainly very solid.

New bridge