Quite some time ago, I promised that I’d write about ten things I love about South Africa before I’m allowed to whine and moan again. This series wouldn’t be complete without talking about the natural beauty all over the dang place here. Everywhere I turn, I see stunning views that take my breath away. And then I move away from the mirror, and there’s STILL spectacular sights to see. Yesterday reminded me how fortunate I am to be in South Africa as I went to go check out some of Pretoria’s famous jacaranda trees.
First, a little history about jacaranda trees in Pretoria (I’ll make it quick because let’s face it, nobody reads my blog for the educational content). Even though Pretoria is nicknamed The Jacaranda City, jacaranda trees aren’t indigenous to South Africa and are actually kind of a local pest (I can identify with these trees). Jacaranda trees first came to South Africa from Argentina in the 1880’s, when two of them were planted on Arcadia street in Pretoria. Because they’re beautiful, their popularity quickly spread, and before long, there were anywhere from 60000 to 70000 jacaranda trees in Pretoria.
Jacaranda trees bloom an explosive purple for about 8 weeks in September and October, and local university students take the first hint of colour as a sign that they’d better start studying for final exams. Apparently, it’s good luck to have a jacaranda petal fall on you as you walk under a tree, which is a load of crap because one fell on me and then I promptly stepped in dog turd as I was basking in my good fortune.
However, as I mentioned, jacaranda trees aren’t a local species, and like every other time humans try to improve our surroundings, we stuffed it up. Jacaranda trees need water. A lot of it. I’m not sure how much you know about South Africa, but “gee willickers that place has a LOT of water” isn’t generally the first thought that pops into people’s minds when they think about the country. Luckily, nature always has a way to deal with things, and there’s a deadly fungus slowly killing all the jacaranda trees in South Africa, and it’s illegal to plant or sell any more of them.
So, uh, I guess that’s good news?
Anyway, I’m fortunate enough to live here before treemageddon wipes out all the jacaranda trees, and I really wanted to take some pictures. This is my third jacaranda tree season in South Africa, and somehow my crippling laziness beat out my ambition to take pictures the previous two years.
Luckily, this year a friend of mine also wanted to go, and once we made plans, I couldn’t really back out.
We made our way to Beckett Street in Pretoria near the union buildings. And there they were. Beautiful, sexy, jacaranda trees.
There’s not much of a story to write about because, well, they’re trees. They don’t do much. They just kind of wait around and let people take pictures of them. So that’s what we did.
So…remember when I said taking pictures of trees is kind of boring?
I anticipated that. So I brought my dinosaur suit and transformed into a mighty Philociraptor. My intention was simply to get a couple funny pictures of me amongst the jacaranda trees, but fate smiled on me that day and brought a busload of tourists.
The tourists drifted my way and started taking pictures of me standing in all my carnivorous glory amongst the trees.
So I waited.
When they got close, I gave my best dino roar (I have an eight year old son- I have had a LOT of practice) and started chasing after them.
I guess they weren’t expecting that, and to be honest, I wasn’t either. I generally have no idea what I’m about to do until I’ve done it. Luckily, Megan was quick enough to catch some of the chaos on camera:
Having accomplished more than I wanted to that day, we decided to pack it up and go check out the legendary white jacaranda trees on Herbert Baker Street. Apparently white jacaranda trees are super rare and beautiful. They may be rare, but they were super lame. They were just like regular jacaranda trees, but without the colour. I’m not even going to post of picture of them, cause I was less impressed than my mom is about most of my life choices. But if you want to read more about them by somebody who appreciates them more than I do, you can check out this great blog by 2Summers.
So ya. There’s my jacaranda tree story. You’ve still got a couple of weeks to go check them out before they disappear for another year. Or you can just Google pictures of jacaranda trees. Same same.
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Seems your comment section is filtered.
Either decide to remain in SA and bring about improvement
Or go home.
This comment has me confused. Yes, the comments all need to be approved, but I don’t ever decline the comments unless they’re obviously spam.
Re: the rest of your comment… Not even sure what to make of it. I love South Africa, warts and all. I will be going home one day, but I’m not ready yet.
Mr Pisciotta probably ought to fit into the “Marula” section of your blog.
Have you seen what a Marula fruit, well fermented, can do to the birds and mammals that indulge?
Incoherent arguments and a lack of judgement are some of the behaviours displayed.
Ha! Ya…not sure what was up there.
I have yet to witness marula-drunk animals, but I’ve heard about it!
Jacaranda trees are not unique to S. Africa. But S. Africa needs to pump itself up from all its turmoil and this is but one season it can portray itself as something special. There is more than trees SA needs.
Nope… As I mentioned, they shouldn’t even be here. I do enjoy them though.
SA has a lot of problems for sure. But also a lot of good.
It just had to be a busload of Japanese tourists, right? It is like a Godzilla reboot… in Snor City. I have a decades-old memory of the sidewalks in our small Eastern Cape town being carpeted with Jacaranda blossoms. That´s way back when small SA towns still had sidewalks… My gran was a grand old lady and would really get pissed off when the petals stuck to her dress shoes in a gooey mess. She´s long gone and I no longer live in SA. Thanks for reviving a great memory!
Haha-yep! Apparently the jacarandas are more popular with Japanese tourists than Table Mountain. I hope I gave them their money’s worth…
That’s a great memory! The petals do make a mess… And they can be really slippery too!
Whatever you do, don’t drive fast down a road that has had a fall of jacaranda blooms before a rainstorm. The resulting mess is gleefully known by schoolkids as “snot”. Cos it’s slippery…
So when you slam on brakes, your car will skid as if you just hit an oil patch.
All you will need to say to the insurance person is, “well, there were these jacarandas, and…”
They’ll get it.
Wow! I knew the sidewalks got slippery, but I never thought about the driving hazard! I had a girlfriend like that once… Pretty, but dangerous!
“hahaha Phil! Love the idea with the dinosaur costume. Very cool. Next time maybe you can bring a hat and get some collections going. If only to have coins for the parking guards for another week…”
That’s actually a great idea… I’m sick of going to the bank to get rolls of change!
Hysterical. The Dept of Wood Science – you know where – is laughing at your recent interest in trees, and non-indigenous species. Little boy dinosaur lovers should grow up to be just like you.
Ha! And who says my wife is the science nerd in the family???? Give my best to S.