22 October

One of my favourite things to do now is use AI on my walks to learn more about the plants I see. You can even talk to AI directly, or just take photos and ask for details about what you’re seeing. The landscape opens up in front of you with fascinating detail. Like the epicormic growth on the elms in Machattie Park in Bathurst, which makes the entire tree look shaggy and green, leaves growing from every surface. Almost certainly the tree’s response to earlier damage or pruning. European elms are very rare now in the world, due to Dutch elm disease decimating them in Europe and North America. Australia is one of the few countries with surviving trees, the collection in Machattie Park is a world treasure.