Aerial Gardens to Overt Roots – the Twists & Turns of the Thurston Street Trees

A while ago, back in Colonial times, and in the early years of independence, Colombo was known as the Garden City.   There are pockets where the street trees remain – cathedrals now, green, cool and shady naves of protection from that searing tropical sun.  Among my favourites are the twists and turns of the Thurston Street trees, where aerial gardens and overt root systems create a vivid habitat not necessarily created for humans.

Speaking of twisty vegetation, I always used to pause for a moment to admire the vine outside Rithi (my favourite sari shop) on Alfred House Gardens.

and hope that nearby, at Shiro Hana, they would be using twisty twigs in their window displays.

I’ve shown you before, but every time I drove by, I’d look to see if the painted tree was still thriving, enjoying this sly twist on nature’s twisty extravagances, like the fused intertwining of a Strangler Fig around its host.

Lunch, on one notable birthday, when my friends took me down to Galle for the weekend, began with a delicious salad (Minimalist salads of crisp green leaves have only ever tasted better in Greece, where scoring such a rarity in place of  the ubiquitous (and unquestionably delicious) tomato and feta always made any green salad delicious by definition!)  topped with a colourful cap of twisty beetroot and carrot.  So pretty!