On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 15:02:22 +0100, Stephen Howard wrote:

I can be pretty sure that you won't be able to do much with the leaves
- they're the 'lungs' of a tree after all.
I know that in some parts of the world they paint the trunks of
certain trees white, to prevent sun damage after a cold snap...so
there's at least a precedent.

They do that here (Austria). You can buy the ready made paint from any
garden centre, it's a bit thick but it can be thinned with water.
There are hundreds of recipes to make it yourself. Eg: this German
recipe...

In a 12litre bucket mix together roughly:

5kg kaolin or other fine clay, 3kg cow dung(! yes really, it's in every
mixture I've seen), 0,5kg rock powder and 0,5km 50% lime. And enough
luke-warm water to make a thick paint consistency. You can then add
0.5litre of sodium silicate (helps adhesion and stops fungus and moss
growth).

This produces enough for around 40-50 trunks of around 60-80cm height.

--
Tim C.