Celebratory bottle (tree)!

I turned 50 this year!  I always enjoy my birthdays but felt this one warranted more significant recognition.  Not a party - a tree!

Nissa promised funding and even found a local-ish supplier but when Plan A fizzled out, I schemed for a Roma trip to visit another bottle tree grower.

I made contact with Elizabeth of Bindaroo Bottle Trees ("Grow your own bulge!") about a week before our planned departure.

I rang Elizabeth on Monday and we visited later in the day.  It was a bit of adventure.  Vaughan spotted two bustards along the way!

I had spoken to Elizabeth about my plan for a potted bottle tree (till we have a permanent abode) and she'd selected two lovely trees for me to choose from.

We chatted at length about her early bottle-tree growing days and current operation - with trees being delivered to all states of Australia!  (A truck-load had just left for Western Australia)!

Some of Elizabeth's bottle trees are in Peter Maccallum Cancer Centre's rooftop garden, which is not far from Nissa's uni.

I received lots of tips for looking after my new tree and really enjoyed spending time in Elizabeth's nursery oasis - standing in the shade listening to little birds flitting about. What a beautiful place to work!

We had visited Roma's largest bottle tree in the morning.  It has a girth of 9.51 metres.  My tree is currently almost my height (including crown - the tree's not mine)!  Let's not discuss girths!  I plan to measure the two of us each birthday and see how wonderfully we age together!