I came home from work, one day, to be greeted by my (then) wife, who gleefully informed me that she had bought a beautiful little house plant. Knowing her level of knowledge of plants, I immediately had to check it out.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I was in for a difficult time, and tried gently, so as to not disappoint her too much, to let her know that this pretty little (15cm) plant was not really suitable as a house plant, as I was sure it was a tree.

Not to be deterered, she stood her ground, and insisted that it was not and would look very nice in the bay window.

So I did the only thing I could. Namely, to suggest that we go back to the nursery where she got it from, and ask them.

Upon arrival, I explained to the owner the problem, and asked for his opinion as to the suitability of the plant to be grown indoors in a bay window.

His reply was to indicate a line of trees, at the other end of the nursery, saying that what we had was the same as the tall one in the middle, which was 10m - 15m tall, and that one was probably only half grown.

He then told me that I was now the proud owner of Eucalyptus gunnii, the Tasmanian Cider Gum, and that it was very hardy and would grow quite happily in that area.

Returning home, it was decided that we really ought to put it in the garden, rather than the bay window.

A few months later, we were visited by the worst winter I had experience in that part of the country. I arose one morning to find the whole garden under a thick blanket of snow. A quick check of the garden revealed that the snow was so deep, I could not see any sign of many plants, including the gum.

Not knowing anything about the genus Eucalyptus, apart from the fact they came from Oz, I decided that was probably the last I would see of the poor thing.

Ha!! Little did I know. Once the snow thawed, there it stood, as cocky as hell and promptly started to grow, and when I say grow, I mean, it GREW!!

Within 2 years it was getting on for 3m and I could see the difference in height between the time I went to work in the morning, and when I came home.

That was my introduction to Oz and it's plants. Within 10 years I had moved over here, but I can assure you that this small plant had little, if any, influence on my decision. 8-))