Wouldn’t you? Trees don’t eat objects, unless they are triffids. And last time I checked there weren’t any fictitious sci-fi plants sprouting in Commonwealth Park.

However, intrigued, I read on. “The story goes that shortly after the tree was planted in the 1970s, a gardener left his metal leaf rake leaning on it and subsequently forgot about it,” writes my curious correspondent Jerry van Meegen of Kingston, adding, “Over the years the tree grew and ‘enveloped’ the rake.”

Van Meegen claims he first stumbled on the oddity about 15 years ago while wandering around the park.

“I couldn’t believe it, the prongs of the rake were still visible but the handle had disintegrated over time,” he asserts, adding that over time he has “forgotten the exact location of the tree.”

Not wanting to dismiss van Meegen’s seemingly far-fetched claims without appropriate investigation, your Akubra-clad columnist promptly called the go-to man for anything floral in Commonwealth Park – Floriade head gardener Andrew Forster.

Incredibly, not only did Forster confirm the rake-eating tree’s existence, explaining it’s been a closely guarded secret among fellow horticulturalists for over three decades, but he also invited van Meegen and myself to see it first-hand, on the proviso we don’t give away its exact location.

“At this time of year most journos quiz me about next year’s theme for Floriade, not about trees gobbling up garden tools,” muses Forster as he leads us up a garden path into the heart of the park.

Not far from Nerang Pool (that’s as much as I’m giving away), Forster stops and exclaims, “Here it is,” while pointing to a mature poplar tree.

“You could see more prongs fifteen years ago,” explains the vindicated van Meegen.

I have to look twice to see the only visible remnants of the rake, half a dozen metal prongs haphazardly protruding at various angles from the trunk, about two metres above the ground.

“Lucky you came now, for in a few years the tree will have completely consumed the rake,” explains Forster, who clarifies the origins of the poplar’s peculiarity.

“One of the gardeners who maintained the nearby pump station for the water feature would also rake the paths and one day about 35 years ago he accidentally left it leaning upside down against the tree,” he explains.

Intrigued as to whether rake-eating trees are a common occurrence elsewhere in the world, back in the yowie den I trawl the internet for similar arboreal oddities. While I’m yet to find any other cases of a tree growing around a rake, there are a surprising number of websites dedicated to trees partially devouring all sorts of other objects from pianos to car wrecks. Really! Who’d have thought?

Of these, the most reported case features a child’s bicycle suspended in a tree several metres above the ground, near Seattle in the US. While most websites claim the bicycle was either left there intentionally to create the quirk, or that it was left behind by a boy who went to war in 1914, and never returned ‘leaving the tree no choice but to grow around the bike’, the truth isn’t quite so fanciful. Snopes, the urban legend-busting website, reports the bicycle was simply abandoned by its owner, who they managed to track down, back in 1954.

I wonder if there are there other equally eye-catching arboreal oddities in our region. Apart from Commonwealth Park’s soon-to-disappear rake, the closest I’ve been able to find are cases where trees have grown around fences — one in Weston Park, Yarralumla, and the other in Mundoonen Nature Reserve, near Yass.

Given how many trees there are in our region, there must be others, either hidden in the bush or squirreled away in suburban backyards. If you know of any, please let me know.

What: One of our region’s most anticipated private garden open days.

Where: ‘Old Graham’, 3021 Frogmore Road, Hovells Creek (located between Boorowa and Cowra). 145km drive from the ACT.

When: Saturday and Sunday October 27-28, 10am-4.30pm. $7 entry (proceeds to Hovells Creek Landcare Group and to the local bushfire brigade).

Expect: A delightful country garden developed by Liz and John Baker around an historic stone Cobb & Co inn, designed to be minimum care, drought-hardy and fire resistant. Highlights include David Austin roses; day lilies, pond and bog garden, citrus and other specimen trees. Also, over 75 sculptures, many the work of local artists, in a six-hectare sculpture paddock.

Don’t miss: The 21-metre stone labyrinth, based on a medieval turf labyrinth in north Lincolnshire, the biggest and most impressive in the Canberra region.

Simulacra: If you take the kids, ask them to try and spot the rock which resembles a giant frog.

Tim’s Tip: Unlike the Commonwealth Park rake featured in today’s column, I don’t think there’s any chance of this large spade sculpture (pictured above) being ‘consumed’ by a tree.

Make a day of it: Morning and afternoon tea and lunches catered by Frogmore Community Hall – or bring a picnic. Toilets on site and most of the short garden and sculpture walks are suitable for prams and wheelchairs.

More: www.myopengarden.com.au

CONTACT TIM: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick. You can see a selection of past columns online.

Clue: No, it’s not an optical illusion, that door really is ‘curved’.

Degree of difficulty: Hard.

Last week: Congratulations to Ian McKenzie of Fisher who was the first reader to correctly identify last week’s photo (right), as one of several murals on the exterior wall of the Gunning Pharmacy, in Yass Street. McKenzie just beat Bob Heacock, who often stops “at the nearby Old Hume cafe during motorbike rides”, to the prize.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday, October 20, 2018 will win a double pass to Dendy - The Home of Quality Cinema.

Also by Tim the Yowie Man this week: Poohs Corner the focus of a university study, and you can get involved.