Council plants cherry blossom to celebrate 20 years of Cairns flower guide

Author Fran Clayton says she originally created the walking guide for tourists, but now wants people to use it to “get off their telephones”.

Cairns botany enthusiast Fran Clayton is marking 20 years since her book The Fabulous Flowering Trees of Cairns City: A Walking Guide was published, with Cairns Regional Council planting a tree on the Cairns Esplaande to mark the occassion. Fran Clayton admires a cannonball tree as it flowers and fruits on the Cairns Esplanade. Picture: Brendan Radke

When Fran Clayton moved to Cairns from England in 1974, she was enamoured by the flowering trees found across the city.

So, in 2005 she photographed and published them all in a book titled The Fabulous Flowering Trees of Cairns City: A Walking Guide.

Sunday, March 16, marked 20 years since the book was first published, and to celebrate the anniversary, Cairns Regional Council have a planted cherry blossom cassia tree on the Esplanade.

“It’s my gift to Cairns,” Ms Clayton said of the book.

“I just always loved the flowering trees. They’re so different and spectacular.”

Cairns botany enthusiast Fran Clayton is marking 20 years since her book The Fabulous Flowering Tree of Cairns City: A Walking Guide was published, with Cairns Regional Council planting a tree on the Cairns Esplaande to mark the occassion. Fran Clayton admires a cannonball tree as it flowers and fruits on the Cairns Esplanade. Picture: Brendan Radke

Ms Clayton said she originally created the book because she thought it would be useful for tourists.

But in fact, “it’s been good for locals,” she said, “because we’re the ones that have visitors coming wanting to know about the trees”.

“A lot of the council gardeners have got copies too, because people often stop and ask them what the trees are.”

The book contains pictures and descriptions of 55 flowering trees found in Cairns City.

A map sits at the back, so that readers can journey through town and see the trees themselves, although some of the trees have since moved, she said.

Ms Clayton said she has a number of “wonderful” stories of people using the book.

Ms Clayton said that 20 years on, she now wanted people to use the book “to get off their telephones and look up and down at what’s in front of them”.

In total, the book has sold 7500 copies.

Originally published as Council plants cherry blossom to celebrate 20 years of Cairns flower guide