Cacti and Succulents of the Bellingen Area

On a walk through Bellingen one can encounter cacti and succulents in cafes, shops, markets and community gardens. The spiny exotic plants are everywhere. They seem to be an expression of the fashionable Bellingen lifestyle. They are trendy and convenient as they require no care.

Residents and businesses rejecting their local environment make a clear statement with their decor: Wish I was somewhere else - far away from here.

The must-have plants are easy to name as 'cactus' or 'spiky plant', even for the botanically naive person.

”The interiors world has gone crazy over cactus plants!” "Succulents and cactuses with weird and wonderful leaves are “curated” in eclectic collections of pots, and terrariums are a thing." 

The pots grace the outdoor lounges of hipsters. For years now ‘spiky plants’ have showcased Sydney’s real estate. That Mediterranean-style feeling seems to sell. Interior gardens, green walls, rooftop/balconies and outdoor living rooms sprout a mono-culture of spiky things in planter rows. It is the botanic message of the ‘for sale sign’ or 'money dwells here'.

Dispersal by plant segment makes it a dream for the horticultural industry and customers. Once the thing has outgrown its pot it is time to 'set it free.' In the garden they become a serial drain blocker. On larger blocks the fossil fuel maintenance team tends to throw the cut offs into the edge of the bush.

Forgotten are the Prickly Pear Cacti hedges from South America that quickly overran many thousand acres of farmland. Today still mother of millions are poisoning cattle and succulents are poisoning children.

While some attempt to control weeds, others are disseminating invasive plants throughout the Valley. Limiting the trade in potentially invasive species is outright unthinkable.

Despite of being set in a rich Gumbaynggirr landscape of biodiversity both businesses and residents choose to populated the landscape with introduced and invasive cacti, succulents, agaves, bromeliads and bamboo, among other weeds.

While deforestation, rapid land clearing, shave the land of native vegetation and biodiversity, the Big Quarry exports more coal then ever before.



It almost seems that people have resigned themselves to climate inaction and are preparing their air conditioned dwellings for Death Valley like (56.7 °C) temperatures extremes. Ornamental flora from the desert of central Mexico or Arizona seems to be the appropriate setting for anticipating the climate catastrophe on the most arid continent.



Update:
"Bellingen registers its hottest day on record. Temperatures soared into the 40s as Bellingen went past its previous best to a top of 48.9 degrees just after 5pm according to Bellingen Weather’s station... in 60 years it has never been that hot." Bellingen Courier. 13.02.2017
NSW smashes February statewide heat records two days in a row SMH, 13.02.2017