A fiery splash of red. Childhood memories of days at the beach. Humbled in the shadow of the giant and ancient tree at Te Araroa... I do like our native evergreen pohutukawa tree. Perhaps it's because I grew up on the Pohutukawa Coast? For my recent birthday, my parents gave us a pohutu shrub (Metrosideros excelsa). Some of the pohutu trees in Wellington are already in flower—as befits New Zealand's "Christmas tree" given the approach of summer. They don't naturally grow this far south, preferring to live above a line connecting New Plymouth and Gisborne. Project Crimson is a nationwide conservation effort "to enable pohutukawa and rata to flourish again in their natural habitat as icons in the hearts and minds of all New Zealanders." Locally there is a Crimson Trial, and Wellington City Council recently launched a Greening the Quays project, featuring the Maori Princess species of pohutukawa.
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Pohutukawa in flower, Pohutukawa Coast
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Next to the (silver)fern and the kiwi, this red flower is also very NZish to me.
Nice shot, but it's not very recent eh? ;-)
It's not recent, no. The photo is from 2005—the last time I was "home" on the Coast. I have shots taken recently in Wellington of a tree in flower, and of our potted flowerless shrub. But the above image is special; the peninsula you see across the waters of the Hauraki Gulf is Duder's Point, the base of which was only a mile from my family home. I used to cycle along the coast road where the picture was taken to Maraetai Beach, the nearest shops, for ice cream!
As you say the silver fern is also a visible NZ symbol. A kiwi, sadly, I have never seen outside of a sanctuary (but there's one on YouTube here).