By Beatrice Hawkins
For most of my life I have used real or imitation pine trees for a Christmas tree. However, there have been times I’ve used gum tree limbs, belah tree branches, painted sticks and in WA with my grandchildren, branches of banksia. My all-time favourite would have to be the Albany woolly bush also from WA.
I wonder at the universal need to keep using European customs to celebrate Christmas in a climate far from ice and snow and where the pine tree as a native species is almost non-existent. We do have native Cyprus pine but it doesn’t resemble the European varieties of pine and spruce.
The Albany woolly bush is a lovely soft, pine looking, WA native that grows well in a pot and I would love to use one here. The Christmas season has rushed up on me and I haven’t looked in local nurseries to see it they are available again this year.
As I walked around town shopping recently I asked a random selection of people looking at artificial trees for sale, why they purchased these and what other alternatives they have used. Most replied that it was convenient and that they hadn’t really thought about Australian alternatives.
I would like to know what substitutes other people like, or have used, to decorate as a Christmas tree.
I have one of the fake variety packed away in a box that hasn’t seen the light of day since the children that used to live next door moved away – no other small people in my street to enjoy the twinkling lights on my patio.
I do have another one that comes out each year as a table centre, made from pretend berries and decorated with baubles and plastic snowflakes, so you see I am as guilty as most people in going with inappropriate European traditions!
I appreciate the fun each year of hearing our home grown music…Santa in a “rusty Holden ute” or flying through the sky behind “6 White Boomers on his Australian run”.
I also love many other traditional carols that remind us of the real reason for this Christian festival and my favourites, since I was a small child, have been “Once in Royal David’s City”, “The Holy City” and Bing Crosby telling the story of “The Small One”. Of course “Silent Night”, “Away in a Manger” and many others all are enjoyed and sung out of tune but with enthusiasm when no one can hear me!
There is a growing industry and interest in Australian native plants and products both here and internationally. Recently I read of a group in the southern part of Western Australia that are developing a business particularly farming and harvesting wattle seed and boronia. I have used wattle seed in pancakes and it gives a distinctive, almost coffee, flavour.
Boronia is a beautiful, perfumed, native shrub of the citrus family Rutaceae that can be found in some form Australia wide as there are approximately 160 species!
The WA one that I read about is boronia megastigma and is known as brown boronia, mountain pepper or Cornish pepper leaf. It is native to an area from Perth south to Albany, grows to no more than a metre high and has a wonderful perfume hence it is prized for use as an essential oil. It is very difficult to germinate from seed except in perfect conditions as it has a very hard coating, but adapts to a wide range of soil and climate types and requires cold winters to produce flowers so doesn’t like the tropics.
It is naturally a fast growing but short lived plant in the wild but with care in a home garden it can last a number of years. Most gardeners think the trouble is worth the effort for the wonderful perfume.
It is growing successfully in the Botanical gardens in Canberra and I believe it probably grew around the Hornsby area in NSW many years ago as my mum used to talk of picking bunches of brown boronia for its wonderful perfume, from the bush, when she worked there.
The essential oil has many uses as an antidepressant, for relaxation and stress relief, in the perfume industry, as a food additive to improve the flavours of such things as blackcurrant, raspberry, strawberry, peach and plum. It’s used in drinks, lollies, ice creams, and baked goods to enhance other flavours. As a massage oil it may help to activate the thyroid and certainly as an air freshener it imparts a wonderful perfume.
If you have a spot for a highly perfumed, beautiful, small, native shrub that won’t break your heart if it doesn’t survive for ever, there is sure to be a variety and colour of boronia to suit the spot.
*This is an old article that has been digitised so our readers have access to our full catalogue.
