Pioneer's Family Tree Branches Out In Potted History
Newcastle Herald
Thursday January 15, 2009
LIKE a pioneer of Nelson Bay, Jenny Megson hopes that from small things, big things will grow.
Ms Megson is cultivating new plants from cuttings from the Port Jackson fig tree that had to be removed from Apex Park at Nelson Bay last year.The 110-year-old tree, which is believed to have been planted by one of the pioneers of Nelson Bay, Alfred Laman, became diseased and had to be cut down in June.But it will live on thanks to Ms Megson, who has nurtured the cuttings to small plants."Most of the cuttings were diseased and in such bad condition they probably wouldn't have survived without a lot of work," she said yesterday."I'm a bit sentimental about that fig tree, so I scrubbed every single branch until it was disease- and bug-free."The 10-centimetre-tall plants have a long way to go before they reach the 26 metres of the Port Jackson fig.But with luck, some of them will last longer than the original tree."In two or three years, when the plants are strong and healthy, they will be planted around the Nelson Bay area in honour of the grand old fig tree," Ms Megson said.The plants have been growing at Port Stephens Council's native plant nursery, the Ngioka Centre, where Ms Megson is the program director.
© 2009 Newcastle Herald
