topic Re: what tree to plant? in Community Spirit

what tree to plant?

*mrgrizz* — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:00:48 GMT

want to plant a tree(native) in the front lawn. to provide shade.

what is a fast growing, non limb dropping reasonably litter free tree?

Re: what tree to plant?

***super_nova*** — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:07:58 GMT

Plastic 🙂

Re: what tree to plant?

*mrgrizz* — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:04:53 GMT

@***super_nova*** wrote:
Plastic

how fast will that grow?

Re: what tree to plant?

creative*crisis — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:05:35 GMT

I'm a big fan of bottle brushes and lilly pillies myself, both relatively fast growing and drought resistant.
Grevilleas are beautiful but fairly shortlived

Re: what tree to plant?

polksaladallie — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:25:39 GMT

Depends on what area you live in. This is an excellent book with details of what will grow in which area, and details of the tree, eg size, deciduous or non-deciduous, flowers, fast growing etc.

Lots of these books for sale on you know where.

WHAT TREE IS THAT ? Stirling Macoboy

Callistemons, syzygiums, grevilleas are shrubs and not shade trees.

Re: what tree to plant?

siggie-reported-by-alarmists — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:28:47 GMT

Find out what your council recommends...... they might choose to remove it if it's not on their list.

Re: what tree to plant?

lyne-flyn — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:34:31 GMT

If you have a large lawn a peppercorn tree would be great...they grow very quickly, are drought resistant, don't drop their limbs and also make very little mess.

We have two that were only about 5ft tall when we moved here 4 years ago...they are now over 15ft tall.

Re: what tree to plant?

evil_akuma_2002 — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:40:26 GMT

I'm afraid there's no such animal. Any fast-growng tree will naturally shed a lot of leaves as it grows.

However, I'd have a look at the Evergreen Alder - (Alnus Jorullensis). I used to work in a plant nursery in the '70's, and this was the fastest growing, least messy tree available.

It was originally marketed as the evergreen silver birch - it's growth habit and leaves strongly resemble the birch. It's not a native, but blends in well with them.

There are grevilleas, callistemons and syzygiums which are trees, but all are slow-growing, save for the syzygium, (lilly pilly) - I have a 15 year old specimen that's 10m X 6m.

Failing those, have a look at the Grevillea Robusta - fast-growing, to around 15-20m, but very messy with fallen leaves and flowers. No branches dropped, however.

Re: what tree to plant?

lloydslights — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:50:26 GMT

Hi Mr Grizz.

It appears that fast-growing trees, do tend to drop limbs more readily than slow growers.

A few questions :

How big is the front yard?

Shade required for a garden spot; or for shading the house?

Are you prepared to prune/shape (the tree I mean)?

Let's see how we go after the answers?

............

I agree with evil-akuma absolutely.

DEB

Re: what tree to plant?

evil_akuma_2002 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:20:12 GMT

Also, give the Eucalypt species a miss - anything with a substantial canopy takes way too long to mature, and the faster-growing species, such as e.camaldulensis, only has a canopy in the last few metres of its height - 30m+.

Given good growing conditions, Tristania Conferta, (a native), also gives a great shade canopy - but its growth and spread are limited in clay soils.

Re: what tree to plant?

***super_nova*** — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:26:11 GMT

I like LilyPily, but they do drop leaves and also berries (have one 30 y.o. in the front yard) . However, at least here in Melbourne they do grow fairly fast. The trees that do grow really fast also usually do not live very long, and do drop branches. I have given up on trying to have totally native garden years ago. I like silver birches. They give lovely shade in the summer and when they lose leaves in winter, let in the sun when I need it. Even nicer shade is under my apricot tree; the tree is wide and dense but the shade is light but really cool; it is the most comfortable place to be on very hot days. And the apricots ale lovely too, when I manage to save some from birds and possums. But for most of my shade and I have several shade sails.

Re: what tree to plant?

kopenhagen5 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:53:07 GMT

Give a native nursery near you a call.

They will probably suggest a whole range of ideal trees.

Re: what tree to plant?

katymatey* — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:58:19 GMT

@lyne-flyn wrote:
If you have a large lawn a peppercorn tree would be great...they grow very quickly, are drought resistant, don't drop their limbs and also make very little mess.

We have two that were only about 5ft tall when we moved here 4 years ago...they are now over 15ft tall.

Not sure where you live but in Victoria I think they are a noxious weed. Multiply like weeds and can grow very large indeed. There are a couple of huge ones on vacant land next to my mother's home. Just before xmas a branch fell, missing my mother only because she had just walked away.

Re: what tree to plant?

lyne-flyn — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 01:48:56 GMT

@katymatey* wrote:
@lyne-flyn wrote:
If you have a large lawn a peppercorn tree would be great...they grow very quickly, are drought resistant, don't drop their limbs and also make very little mess.

We have two that were only about 5ft tall when we moved here 4 years ago...they are now over 15ft tall.
Not sure where you live but in Victoria I think they are a noxious weed. Multiply like weeds and can grow very large indeed. There are a couple of huge ones on vacant land next to my mother's home. Just before xmas a branch fell, missing my mother only because she had just walked away.

Must depend where you live in Victoria...there are literally hundreds growing on the nature strips here.

I know they can grow very large as we had one in the backyard when I was a child and three of us could hold hands around its trunk. Really big ones will sometimes drop branches but that is usually because they are rotten.

Re: what tree to plant?

*mrgrizz* — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:12:23 GMT

@lloydslights wrote:
Hi Mr Grizz.

It appears that fast-growing trees, do tend to drop limbs more readily than slow growers.

A few questions :

How big is the front yard?

Shade required for a garden spot; or for shading the house?

Are you prepared to prune/shape (the tree I mean)?

Let's see how we go after the answers?

............

I agree with evil-akuma absolutely.

DEB

front yard is fairly large will be planted about 4 metres from the house.

shade for the house.

the less work i need to do to it the better

the council can't tell me what sort of tree to plant on my property?????

Re: what tree to plant?

polksaladallie — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 03:14:21 GMT

My view is that 4 metres is way too close for anything that calls itself a tree. Shrubs, yes, although some of them have invasive roots also.

Do not consider eucalyptus.

Re: what tree to plant?

katymatey* — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 05:29:58 GMT

@lyne-flyn wrote:
@katymatey* wrote:
@lyne-flyn wrote:
If you have a large lawn a peppercorn tree would be great...they grow very quickly, are drought resistant, don't drop their limbs and also make very little mess.

We have two that were only about 5ft tall when we moved here 4 years ago...they are now over 15ft tall.
Not sure where you live but in Victoria I think they are a noxious weed. Multiply like weeds and can grow very large indeed. There are a couple of huge ones on vacant land next to my mother's home. Just before xmas a branch fell, missing my mother only because she had just walked away.
Must depend where you live in Victoria...there are literally hundreds growing on the nature strips here.

I know they can grow very large as we had one in the backyard when I was a child and three of us could hold hands around its trunk. Really big ones will sometimes drop branches but that is usually because they are rotten.

I think there are just too many of them around for councils to get rid of. The main thing is to continually pull out the suckers. (the peppercorns, not the councils, although that is sometimes a good thing too)

Re: what tree to plant?

cherry*135 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 05:39:02 GMT

Not a:

Gum tree

Palm tree

any tree that has berries.

What about those pull down window shutters (on outside of house) or awnings for house shade?

Re: what tree to plant?

***super_nova*** — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 05:52:34 GMT

I love pepercorn trees, but unless you are in very dry area, they do indeed grow very large and their roots are invasive. The problem is that plants grow, fast or slow they grow. When I first moved in here the block was just a wasteland. So, I went plant shopping and if I liked it I definitely had a spot for it. I wish the labels told the truth though; for instance I bought Escalonia with label saying bush "up to 1.5m x 1.5m in 10 years" so I planted it in front of the bush that said will grow to 2.5 m. Well the Escalonia was 3m in 2 years, and handsome tree in no time at all, and in totally wrong position designwise. And another interesting plant was muehlenbeckia, described as a "groundcover to 30cm". Well it is up on the 2.5m fence and growing upwards, actually it is up about 3.5m, and selfsupporting. It looks great, I cannot see the house next door any more. But I suspect my neighbours do not share my opinion of it.

Re: what tree to plant?

cherry*135 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 05:59:32 GMT

I have a frangipani tree inside the fence in a small yard. It is a nice tree and pretty. It has almost doubled in size in the last two years since I have been here though - cuts out most of my sea view (in the summer, looses its leaves in the winter) from the lounge.

Who ever planted it in that position, made a mistake imo.