wisteria, carp street, bega, bega valley shire council, hot, shade, summer, plant

The removal of the iconic wisteria plant on Bega’s Carp Street remains a hot topic as shoppers and pedestrians of Bega have sweltered through summer. It has been three months since the sprawling wisteria plant – once providing shady relief on the town’s main street – was removed by Bega Valley Shire Council. The lack of shade has resulted in a decrease in pedestrian activity in what used to be a popular meeting spot. First hand observers of this decline are Evelyn Green and Janis Dearlove, who hold their Jehovah's Witness information stand under the missing wisteria every Friday and Saturday. They said it had become particularly hot work over the last few months. “It’s quite a good meeting area, but we’ve definitely noticed a drop off in the number of people that use this space now,” Ms Green said. “The heat makes it hard, people either don’t stop or sit here anymore, or if they do they don’t stay long.” The pair would like to see a new shade put up. “They’ve got the framework to put something up, maybe a grapevine or even just a shade cloth so people can use this bench space again,” Ms Dearlove said. “It’s such a shame, it was such a beautiful bloom.” The wisteria was drastically cut back in November last year, just in time for the heat and strength of the summer sun. Council workers left the base of the plant in tact in the hope the plant would regenerate, but conceded this outcome is becoming increasing unlikely. They said they fully understood the concerns of people who are ruing the loss of shade. If no regeneration occurs, council said it will explore replacement options, including replanting and other shading methods. It is still unclear what caused the health of the wisteria plant to deteriorate so quickly. Some suggestions have included deterioration with age, effects of pollution and, even more sinister, glyphosate poisoning. Council said that while there are suspicions and speculation around what caused the wisteria to become unhealthy, nothing definite has been confirmed.

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