It took the possums ten years to find us, lucky us! But now they are regular guests. They eat the young shoots of the pomegranate, they have almost killed the Akebia quinata, and they hunger even for astringent persimmons. I heard that if you keep your trees small and low to the ground the possums don’t venture out to the dwarf specimens for fear of predators. I heard that if you place large sacrificial fruit trees among your other plantings they will stick to the large trees and leave the other productive trees alone. I have seen possums in the Edinburgh gardens in Fitzroy Melbourne eat out of rubbish bins which are very low to the ground and far lower then any of our fruit trees. The native trees on our nature strip are tall, they feast on some of these and on one in particular.

This year I bought some new bird netting and adorned my fruit trees with tutus, my trees look like ballerinas. The possums are being kept out for the moment but so maybe are the bees. The netting has fine small holes, too small to let the bees in. So I have made some openings in the nets, openings that can later be closed. There are birds to consider (getting trapped in the nets due to the openings). There are bees to consider.

The rain and cold weather that arrived shortly after the peach flowers began to set has kept the bees away. So always in the garden a dynamic and highly educational landscape thrives; feeding my stomach and my mind. Arrivederci cari amici.

White dress ballerina peach tree.

White dress ballerina quince.