A story on our backyard swimming pool-to-pond conversion: au.news.yahoo.com/couples-fant...

The new BOM site is a shemozzle. Dumbed-down information and impossible to find actual weather data. A massive step backwards for such an important service.

Currency Creek Arboretum open days for 2026 are now scheduled! The world's most diverse collection of eucalypts is only open to the public twice a year, at our biannual open days. Details here: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre...

We're all set up and ready to go for the arboretum open days THIS WEEKEND! Come and see the world's most diverse collection of eucalypts, with over 800 species growing on the one site. About an hour's drive south of Adelaide in SA. Open day details here: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre...

Less than 2 weeks until our arboretum open days! Here's a few of the eucalypts flowering at the moment. These free open days only occur biannually. Currency Creek Arboretum is about an hour's drive south of Adelaide in SA. Open details here: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre...

Carnivorous plants are always pretty cool, and we are lucky enough to have large populations of four different sundew (Drosera) species at the arboretum. D. whittakeri (Whittaker's sundew) D. glanduligera (scarlet sundew) D. auriculata (tall sundew) D. macrantha subsp. planchonii (climbing sundew)

A unique partnership between an artist and a botanist has resulted in an old rail corridor in South Australia becoming an eucalypt forest.

"Perth had its wettest winter in 30 years. Why aren't its dams full?" An insightful and alarming news article by the ABC: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Southern Australia’s green drought: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Discover the wildlife that call eucalypt hollows home in this stunning poster series by Paula Peeters! 🌳 Now featuring 4 ecosystems, incl. the new WA Wheatbelt Woodland. Explore + order here: paperbarkwriter.com/12967-2 #LoveAGum #TreeHollowThursday

Caught a flock to 20-odd yellow-tailed black cockatoos shredding the large woody fruits of Eucalyptus youngiana and the branches of drooping she-oaks at the arboretum. They certainly are efficient at shredding fruits and branches in search of seeds and grubs!

Eucalyptus rhodantha (rose mallee) at Currency Creek Arboretum today. The operculum (bud cap) is here shedding to reveal the stamens (the pink, thread-like structures which form the colourful part of most eucalypt flowers) and the anthers (the tiny, pale yellow 'dots' which produce pollen).

This year's spring open days at Currency Creek Arboretum will be on Sat 11 & Sun 12 October 2025. Learn about the research we are doing in the most diverse collection of eucalypts on the planet (over 800 species!) Free entry and tours. Open Day details here: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre...

A well-developed root-plate and lignotuber in a planted spotted gum (Eucalyptus maculata) in Adelaide. Sure, the tree has displaced the concrete kerb, but it is well worth it to have such a large, structurally-sound tree providing so much shade, cooling, wildlife and amenity to this streetscape.

Following on from my earlier post, here are a few more sites, this time from east of Adelaide (Murray Bridge, Monarto, Callington), showing the impacts of the 'green drought'. And these are all considered to be relatively drought tolerant species - mallee box, sheoaks, Callitris, olive trees...

Depressing pics of remnant pink gum & SA blue gum woodland on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. This 'green drought' is caused by record low rainfall followed by some winter rain. Here we are seeing vegetation change in progress, caused by rapid climate change.

Unusually vibrant bark in Eucalyptus maculata (spotted gum) at Currency Creek Arboretum. Known as 'ginger syndrome', it is caused by the bark overheating and desiccating from severe drought stress. It will be interesting to see if these trees recover or continue to deteriorate after some rain.

Eucalyptus crebra (narrow-leaved red ironbark) in the Warrumbungles of central NSW.

Just back from three weeks of eucalypt fieldwork in NSW. The state has 3 subspecies of river red gum (E. camaldulensis), which differ from one another most notably in the bud shape. 🔲⬛⬛ subsp. camaldulensis ⬛🔲⬛ subsp. arida ⬛⬛🔲 subsp. acuta

Why it's currently so dry across southern SA and western Vic, and the long-term prognosis for similar conditions: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

Dust-filled air on a warm, dry, windy May day at Currency Creek Arboretum.

Near-dead, drought-stressed trees of Eucalyptus eremophila at Currency Creek Arboretum, plus a bonus flowering photo of what it looks like when healthy! The name 'eremophila' literally means 'desert loving', but the species is not loving the record dry conditions here at the moment...

Does Australia really have a ‘cost of living’ crisis? Or do we actually have an inequity crisis? Seems that many people can still buy big, new, expensive (& unnecessary) things at will, while many others can’t afford essentials like shelter & groceries.

Seeing Australia’s beloved gumtrees dying makes my insides knot. If they can’t survive, how can we? | Jess Harwood

Just a reminder that the arboretum open days this weekend (29 & 30 March 2025) have been CANCELLED due to unprecedented dry conditions. Thanks for your understanding. Details of our next free open days in October 2025: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre...

Are we seeing the last of the stringybarks in the Mount Lofty Ranges? Large areas of remnant trees now dying in the ranges & on Fleurieu Peninsula in SA 😳 This example in Belair Nat. Park. Better strap in, as there's no rain forecast anytime soon and we're just getting started with climate change 😥

We have just cancelled the Currency Creek Arboretum open days for Sat 29 & Sun 30 March 2025, due to safety concerns associated with unprecedented dry conditions. Details: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre... Our next open days are 11 & 12 Oct 2025, when the arboretum should be much greener and safer!

Happy National Eucalypt Day! We spent the weekend in the field in the south-east of South Australia, researching the distribution of several taxonomically difficult eucalypt pairs (namely Eucalyptus arenacea vs E. baxteri, E. odorata vs E. wimmerensis, and E. brachycalyx vs E. rugosa).

Interested in working with us at the Australian National Herbarium as a Curatorial Technician with a focus on eucalypts? jobs.csiro.au/job-invite/9... #herbarium #csiro

It remains super dry on the Fleurieu Peninsula in SA: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03... The red dot is location of Currency Creek Arboretum, about halfway between Victor Harbor & Strathalbyn, where we've had 290 mm in the 14 months since Jan 2024 (annual average is 470 mm).

New PhD scholarship available to work with us at Western Sydney University. Determining the functional diversity of stress tolerance in eucalypts Link for online application below. Please contact me by email if you are interested in applying www.westernsydney.edu.au/schools/grs/...

ANOTHER eucalypt species just listed as Critically Endangered: Eucalyptus scopulorum (Peregrine Point ironbark), known in the wild from a single site in northern NSW (threatened by drying climate and fire). The species grows well in cultivation at Currency Creek Arboretum in SA.

Two more eucalypts listed as nationally threatened on 4 Mar 2025: - Eucalyptus paliformis (Wadbilliga ash) as 'Critically Endangered'. - Eucalyptus sturgissiana (Ettrema mallee) as 'Endangered'. Both threatened by climate change, particularly increasing fire frequency & intensity.

Spring 2025 arboretum open days announced! Currency Creek Arboretum open days for 2025 are now: Sat 29 & Sun 30 March 2025 Sat 11 & Sun 12 October 2025 Come along, see the world's most diverse collection of eucalypts, and learn all about them! Details here: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre...

An example of a healthy graft in a red-flowering gum cultivar. The 'rootstock' is Eucalyptus maculata (spotted gum) with smooth, mottled, greenish bark. The 'scion' (leafy part above) is E. ficifolia (WA red-flowering gum) with rough, hard-fibrous bark. A couple of interesting observations: 1/3

A total of 0.5 mm of rain was enough for this Eastern Shrike-tit to bathe in the wet foliage of a Eucalyptus calcicola subsp. unita (Warramurrup Mallee) at Currency Creek Arboretum.

Die-off of many eucalypt species at Currency Creek Arboretum. Driest 12 months on record, 5.5 mm of rain so far in 2025, and now 42 degrees today. A few examples, mostly of species naturally originating from cooler climates (names in alt text):

Parts of southern Australia remain the driest on record, including at Currency Creek Arboretum (arrowed blue). These BOM maps indicate rainfall deficiency over the last 12 months. 2024 rainfall at CCA was 361 mm, 33% less than average. Winter rainfall was significantly down. 1/5

Some colourful & textural eucalypt bark from Currency Creek Arboretum this week. 1. Eucalyptus utilis (coastal moort) 2. E. terminalis (plains bloodwood) 3. E. caesia (caesia) 4. E. watsoniana (large-fruited yellowjacket)

Willy Wagtail vs Brown Goshawk at the Currency Creek Arboretum water trough.

Some 'common names' of plants misleading us again: Here we have Brown Mallet (Eucalyptus astringens) and one of the Grey Gums (E. propinqua), both so-named because of the seasonal colour of their bark. Yet both species also have seasonally quite vibrant, almost orange bark!

Did you know, with good eyes you can see both Uluru & Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) from South Australia? I was lucky enough to do so, from two SA mountains, in 2008. ◀️ Uluru from Mt Morris summit in SA (88 km away). ▶️ Kata Tjuta & Uluru from Mt Woodroofe summit in SA (151 km & 128 km away respectively).

It's that time of the year again, when the angophoras put on a showy, snowy display of flowers! There are 10 angophora species (Eucalyptus subgenus Angophora). The best-known and perhaps most-loved is this one, Eucalyptus apocynifolia (smooth-barked angophora).

The underlying cause of the extensive snow gum dieback in the Australian alps is actually climate change, not beetles. The locally-indigenous beetles can only kill the trees when they are severely drought stressed. Blaming the beetles is diversionary. science.anu.edu.au/news-events/...

Goobang National Park is a hidden gem, smack bang in the middle of NSW. Despite it being the weekend, both campgrounds were empty. Heaps of great wildlife though! Can anyone ID the friendly cicada that was staring at us as we awoke?

Dead fallen trunks of alpine snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. niphophila) near Thredbo in NSW. This is one of the few eucalypts that form conspicuous annual growth rings in the wood, due to their distinct summer growing season and winter dormancy.

Despite wet conditions over much of the continent, conditions here remain dry, with 10-month rainfall (Feb to Nov 2024) the LOWEST ON RECORD for parts of South Australia, including at Currency Creek Arboretum. We'll certainly be testing the drought vulnerability of different eucalypt species here!

Though careful fieldwork and a stroke of luck, Gavin Phillips and I have resolved the identity and status of the rare Angophora/Eucalyptus exul from the Northern Tablelands of NSW (spoiler - it's a hybrid). Here's a link to a PDF of the article: openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/TEL/article/...