unexpected find

I went to collect some tansies yesterday…

… and found eucalyptus leaves!!!

Now, I try to use exclamation marks carefully but you will forgive me this time. I am in the north of the Scottish Highlands where an eucalyptus tree is a rare tree and to find the whole branch on the ground is a sheer luck.

I used to pass this garden almost daily over the past several years, but only this spring I recognized the tree as one of euca species. I didn’t see the trunk because of the fence, but the crown was  half dry, half healthy, with new shoots and flowers on. However, someone being swift and tidy, chopped the whole crown away – and didn’t tell me ^-^. My dyer’s heart would mourn each time I went past – until yesterday when I had a closer look and there, among weeds and wild raspberries was  it lying – the whole branch with some fresh, some dry leaves!

Bundles are made and steamed. I don’t expect any rusty or red color due to our climate, but … as one Slovakian saying goes, ‘sometimes even a hoe can shoot’ .

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