On the driveway side of our house, we have two large macrocarpa trees. There used to be more, just on the other side of our fence, that provided good protection to our house. But neighbours have chopped down two or three of them, exposing the house to southerly winds and rains. We’re now going to have to do some renovations to our entranceway.
We know that the last two macrocarpa trees are living on borrowed time. A previous owner of our house has pruned them, making them a rather unusual shape. Whilst some branches are still lush and green, other branches are not so healthy. The trunk of one of the trees has a diameter of at least a metre, perhaps two. It’s a very old tree, and on its last legs.
But I’ve come to love the protection from that tree, and the fact that it is home to many tui and other birds. More recently, the kaka have been quite destructive, ripping off the bark searching for a dinner of the insects living underneath.
Macrocarpa trees are everywhere in New Zealand. They’re an introduced species, and – in writing this and googling their origin – I have only just learned that they are called Monterey cypress and come from central California! So thanks to Thursday treelove for teaching me something new. They’re a common tree in rural New Zealand particularly, and there was a stand of them just behind our house on the farm where I grew up. They’re less common in cities, simply because of their size. But there are a few in our suburb. I’ll probably feature one near me which I love on another Thursday treelove post.
These are ours:
