A shame we didn't go native

SO MANY letters, so little space! First, re last week's item, the true ''mothers'' of thousands of jacaranda trees in the shire were Sister Marg Haxton and her successor Sister Beryl Alice Mullins of the maternity ward at Jacaranda Hospital, Woolooware, who gave saplings to every new mother in the late 1940s, '50s and '60s. But the practice was also common on the north shore, with the Royal North Shore, the Mater, Ryde Hospital and two hospitals in Mosman handing out jacarandas to new mothers for the better part of last century, and when you see jacarandas next to coral trees it was because of a common view that seeing their red and purple blooms together in late spring was very pretty. The mass of coral trees on the lower north shore are far from popular and are officially, ahem, a ''weed''. They drop limbs easily, even when it is not windy, and being exotic (from India), they have moved in much like the camphor laurels (China) and lantana (Brazil). The reason they thrive is birds and bats help spread the seed. If hospitals were to continue this lovely practice, many readers say it would be better to go with natives such as Illawarra flame trees, Gymea lily, geebung or melaleuca.    More Read