The Giant in Our Garden.....

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The giant in our garden is an Argentinian Pine tree... they can grow up to 130ft, or 30 -40 metres, and can be 1-1.5 m (3–5 ft) in diameter . It is native to western Argentina and central and southern Chile, but of course can be found in many other countries with a suitable climate... There is a male and a female species of the tree, ours is a female.. It is wind pollinated and the female seed cones, which you can see in the photo collage above, mature in autumn about 18 months after pollination occurs. These cones, can grow quite large up to 12–20 cm, or (4.7–7.9 in) in diameter, and hold about 200 seeds, which are very similar to pine nuts.... and weigh around 2lbs or more.... This giant is as tall as our five storey block of flats, and is right next to the swimming pool.... and towers over it. For some reason ..., it has been dropping its cones..., which weigh a couple of pounds each, at least, and have a hard skin, with lots of thorny type spines protruding from it, again, you can see what I mean from the photos..., which were taken, and used, with the kind permision of maggs224. These would drop from great heights into the pool and onto the surrounding landscaped gardens... some would explode on impact ... others didn’t, some fell onto the weaved wooden gazebo, and left holes in its roof . It was dangerous ..., fortunately, no one has been injured, but they put a notice up to say people using the swimming pool did so at their own risk, as the tree was unsafe, but that they were waiting for the tree surgeons to make it safe. It did not seem to make much difference to us, or the other residents, the tree surgeons have been here now, for the last two days... pruning and trimming it, and making it safer. It looks a lot better now... and the notices have been removed... so it's safe to return to the water ..