Jacaranda Trees in Pretoria

Hi guys and girls,

below is some information about the Jacaranda tree which I wanted to share with you. Pretoria is flooded with them and it really makes the city look good, but it also creates a mess. I like the colour purple and you will see from the pictures below that it really makes a difference.

Jacaranda City

Demand for a more flexible approach may be seen Pretoria, the nation’s capital, which is famous for its jacaranda trees. The tree, an import from Argentina, was first brought to the city in 1880 and large-scale planting started soon after.

A hundred years later, more than 50,000 jacarandas adorned the city’s streets, parks, and gardens. South Africa’s parliament passed an act three years ago that declared 198 exotic species as “weed and invader” plants. The law provides for stiff fines and jail sentences for trading in or keeping the plans on public or private land, including suburban gardens.

Officials recently listed the jacaranda under a special category of invasive species, which allows the city to keep existing trees but not to replant them when they die. The idea was that attrition would gradually eliminate the water-hungry alien trees from the city.

Below are some photo’s I took while driving through Pretoria.

Let me know what you think, maybe you have some kind of tree in your area that is the same.

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