Final Assessment

The Handkerchief Tree

I have spent the day starting my final assessment piece for the writing group. In my story I wanted to include a very beautiful garden with a spectacular tree. I thought of the 'Handkerchief Tree' and decided this would be what I would use. I have to make notes for my commentary and I thought describing this would be easy as I know of a fine example in a friends house, a tree which I have photographed in the past; but when it came to it, what did I know about the tree - very little. I needed to look it up.

It is aptly named the handkerchief tree because of the large white bracts that hang down and flutter in the breeze. I was surprised the learn it is more commonly called the Dove tree or the Ghost tree.

'They were discovered growing in China in the 1860's by the French explorer Pere Armand David, thus it's botanical name 'Davidia Involucrata'. It flowers in May/June time. The first one to flower in Europe was in 1906.'

The one in the picture above is a lot smaller than the one in my friends garden, but equally as lovely in a different way. This information, I think, will be enough for a few paragraphs of my commentary. What today has done for me is underline the amount of work that needs to go into this Assessment piece. I have to write 700 words justifying what I have produced!