Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneAn avocado on 4 June, its whole crown carried in a spiral at the tip of one unbranched stem — a dozen leathery leaves held out almost flat, several folded down along their midribs, throwing hard-edged shadows onto the gravel at midday.Week of 1 JuneAn avocado on 5 June, its stem still soft and green rather than woody, a dozen big leaves spiraling out from the top of it and hanging folded along their midribs — and a pair of pale new ones only just opening at the very tip.Week of 8 JuneAn avocado raised from seed on 12 June, one unbranched leaf-scarred shoot ending in a pointed bud, its two newest leaves still expanding and flushed coppery bronze all over with the midrib left green, the rest beaded with rain under flat overcast.Week of 20 JulyA single-stemmed seedling on 21 July carrying every one of its leaves in one drooping rosette at the top, each blade leathery and dark with six to nine pairs of veins arching forward to the margin, the whole plant beaded with rain in shadowless light.Week of 27 JulyA single-stemmed sapling on 30 July, one unbranched stem scarred all the way up where its lower leaves went and carrying fourteen at the top in a drooping wheel, each leaf matte and entire with ten pairs of veins curving to the margin, over browned grass.
