Big cone pine cone

This is the first cone produced by a big cone pine tree growing in our garden. It actually has two cones, but the top one is too high up to photograph easily. Scientific name Pinus coulteri, native to western North America. As the tree grows, it will produce bigger cones, but this one is a reasonable size for a small tree. These trees, like sugar pines, are not the sort of trees to be standing under in a strong wind. We pitched out tent near a sugar pine once, in the western USA, and woke up to the crash of a pine cone hitting the ground. Fortunately, it missed the tent. We're a bit more careful where we pitch it now, where there are large-cone-shedding pine trees around.

Spent the morning cutting the hedge (lemonwood, Pittosporum eugeniodes) along our road boundary, which is the length of three normal sized sections. We haven't left it so long this time, so it was a reasonably easy job, much easier than last year. The watering restrictions last summer (post earthquake, while reservoirs were being repaired) probably helped too, by preventing it growing as much.