It's the time of year where many living things in the natural world plan for a rest, the trees retrieve some of the nutrient from their leaves and cause them to colour up, no longer needed in the winter months. As the leaves fall to the ground they are food for all manner bacteria, small creatures and fungi, that consume them. The waste from these becomes nutrient for the tree during the quickening of spring. New clothes, fresh and without blemish to harvest the rays of the sun and manufacture a different type of nutrient.
The colours in the small valley in which lie the Cassilis recreation reserve and cemetery are beginning to show trees settling in for winter. Not all the trees of the same type are colouring the same. It is assumed that each tree has tapped into a different source of nutrient. Some trees have smaller leaves than others of their kind, that also demonstrates a deficiency, either in nutrient or genetics. Though they all looked the same in the autumn they were bought and planted, they, like every living thing, are all different.
Each tree is unique and the beauty of this is a year when some will be colourful and others may not. Another year we might see the trees that looked to be rather plain this year, will be the feature of a new season.
However, whatever eventuates, what swing or roundabout we see each autumn, there is no doubt that we will see something startling each year as the trees grow. We have to thank and are grateful to the sponsors of these trees for giving us something to look forward to each season.
The Cassilis Recreation Reserve Committee of Management and Cassilis Cemetery Trust are attempting to create a colourful picture and participation environment with trees and other plants.
There is much to do and consider when attempting to create a congenial environment. One to be enjoyed by all visitors, in its entirety or just sections that draw people into such pleasantries as picnics or just laying on the grass on a blanket taking in the wildlife and ambiance for which this small area is so famous - while chasing the clouds from the sky.
