Cabbage Tree Top

One of the first Cordylines (or Cabbage trees) I planted in the Apple Tree Garden is seen here, tattered but triumphant, silhouetted against the winter sky. Ha! The blue sky in this picture is proof that we have nice gardening winters!

This Cabbage tree (Cordyline) marks the beginning of the Apple Tree Garden. One of my hose butlers sits underneath.

Favourite Cat Climb

The trunk is a favourite tree climb for my younger cats. Successive Moosey kittens have discovered their climbing claws zooming up it - and down it, carefully backwards. Cabbage tree trunks must give good traction...

This was one of the very first cordylines I planted. They always shed the old leaves from their trunks, so the ground beneath is often messy. Cordyline leaves, tied in bundles, make brilliant fire-starters.

Rosy Neighbours

The nearest proper neighbours are climbing roses - Clair Matin leans over a rickety archway, and the spring flowering Fruhlingsgold spreads itself up and over a sturdy pink Camellia. A new path weaves through these shrubs to reach the Laundry Seat and the Moosey washhouse door.

Reaching for the Sky

Often it's only when taking photographs that a gardener notices how much growth there's been. To take a successful photograph of the cabbage tree I had to point the camera at the sky. Now that's progress!