Christmas Trees in NZ

We've only seen two or three Christmas trees since we've been here and a Charlie Brown tree would be perfection compared to those. Instead, NZ has an evergreen that just happens to bloom only once a year, and that one time is the few weeks around Christmas. The blossoms are, conveniently, bright red. This tree, the Pohutukawa, can grow 80 feet tall - think a huge Magnolia - and can live as long as 1,000 years.

The first picture shows a line of very small ones but the blossoms are perfect and in full bloom so a good example. Many of the beaches and harbor fronts here are lined with Pohutukawa. The second picture shows one providing a great shady spot at the beach but this one hasn't started to flower yet. Plenty of buds if you get close but no flowers. The trees don't all bloom at exactly the same time but the blooms start in December and are all over by early January. If you stand under one of these trees you can hear a distinct humming sound from the thousands of bees taking pollen from the blossoms.

So Kiwis just enjoy these as a Christmas tree without cutting them down or bringing them inside. They really are something to see and a source of great pride to anybody who has one.