Oh hail this magnificent hibiscus flower on this gloomy day …

Yesterday a friend staying at Carinya temporarily, walked me through the almost abandoned buildings and overgrown gardens.

This is one of the most vibrantly colored flowers I have seen. Without its flowers the shrub is insignificant, no more than a meter tall, with every millimetre of its bark covered with lichen.

I know people will tell me lichen doesn’t hurt tree bark. That may be so. But the lichen by creating little pockets, draws water to itself and that allows other, unfriendly, organisms a foothold. Rot is the next step.

When I see a shrub or tree bedizened with lichen, I see a tree in trouble, planted in the wrong place and or climate.