Jonathan David Smyth

Cabbage Trees (2016) | When I was a kid in Northern Ireland, we had a small palm tree at the front of our house. In the wintertime, most of its leaves would drop off, and they were so long and rigid that my sisters and I would pick them up and play sword fights with them. After spending time away from Northern Ireland, and seeing real palm trees in America, I realised my dear palm wasn’t a relation at all. It is actually part of a group called Cabbage Trees or Cordyline australis, usually found in New Zealand. Even though they are thriving in gardens up and down the Antrim coast, most people in my hometown don’t know what these foreign plants are called. On a recent return home, I decided to document each cabbage tree I came across on my daily outings. www.jonathandavidsmyth.com