Several gardens in Paluma have peach trees which are at present coming into bloom. Buds are swelling along the slender branchlets, with many flowers already open. Another week, (it is 12 July at the time of writing), should see the trees densely covered in delicate pink blossoms. Unless heavy rain washes the blossom off, the tree will display its beauty for up to three weeks. Tiny fruit will begin forming which will swell and ripen in the summer months but Bush Rats and White-tailed Rats will have eaten most of them well before then.
The peach is a deciduous tree and looks bare and straggly for a few months during the year, until mid- winter, but is worth growing for its sheer beauty during the flowering period.
Paluma must be one of the few places in the tropics where a tree more suited to a temperate climate can thrive.
Text and photos by Colwyn Campbell
Further proof of Paluma Magic!🍑