Kate in New Zealand (6)

Driving in New Zealand in December and January is a very colourful experience. Many roadside banks are a festoon of blue and white, the result of agapanthus blooming in profusion. When the original settlers came from Scotland they brought broom and gorse thinking to emulate the tidy, controlled hedges of their homeland. Little did they realise how rampant both plants would become in New Zealand’s milder and damper climate. Agapanthus, introduced a little later, has taken longer to get established and although far from having spread to the extent that gorse has done, it is nevertheless doing it so effectively that it’s now classified as a noxious weed and plant centres do not sell it. Crocosima is also spreading but is not regarded as so serious a problem that it’s been similarly defined. However, you can see that it plays its part in making for colourful summer roadsides. And when you see a jacaranda tree in all its glory you wonder why more of those have not been planted.