CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
In great news for Queenslanders and and a few suburbs in the Southern cities, the jacaranda trees are back in bloom.
The jacaranda is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Mexico, Central America, South America, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and the Bahamas – but have been intensively introduced in North New South Wales and the Queensland Great-South-East.
Nicknamed ‘Brisbane Snow’ in Queensland, the purple flower of the jacaranda has been a popular inclusion to Australian front lawns and parks ever since the first tree was planted in 1864 in the Brisbane botanic gardens.
However, the title of ‘Jacaranda Capital’ has long been the centre of much controversy amongst gardening enthusiasts, with the New South Wales town of Grafton making a very strong claim to the crown with their annual ten-day-long ‘Grafton Jacaranda Festival’.
However, real Queenslanders know that there is no point to this debate – because there is a far prettier and unfairly less popular flowering tree that Brisbane can hang it’s hat on instead.
Redcliffe mum of four, Vicky Park (55) says she knows Brisbane has a reputation for the beautiful purple flowers, but if she’s honest Grafton can keep em. Because she’s a poinciana girl through and through.
“I might be a bit bias but feel like it’s a no-brainer”
“Less mess, brighter colours, and fare more shade”
Native to Madagascar, the Poinciana is known for its fern-like leaves and flamboyant display of orange-red flowers every summer.
Suited to more tropical climates, the Poinciana is a fast-growing tree, with a treetop canopy that can grow well over 1.5 metres each year.
Vicky says not many other cities could handle a tree like this.
“Only Brisbane could sustain the poincianas” Vicky says.
“And only the poincianas could survive the famous Brisbane arvo storms”
“I mean really, it depends what you want. Purple grey sludge on your windshield? Or a natural pergola that can provide shelter to a garden table?”
“The poncianas in full bloom shit all over jacarandas just quietly”
