A great incentive to encourage trees

[amalan11]

Today is national Tree Day  and to mark it my local council  in inner Sydney had lots of park plantings where they supplied thousands of little plants and volunteers  planted them. It seems to be in collaboration with Planet Ark.

It was great  to see people and families all out helping.

But the other initiative was to offer  Ratepayers  the chance to go and collect  a large bagged Native tree ,there were about 8 types  Eucalyptus, Banksias,Flame Trees and wattles, free with ID .

I got myself a really beautiful 2.5 M  Bottlebrush with about 10 blooms . People responded really well and there were a steady stream of people getting lovely big trees for their yards.

There were council workers there to advise on Your choice and give advice.

I think its a wonderful initiative and better than street planting which unfortunately often gets vandalised. It really upsets me to see a nice tree vandalised   and gosh it is common in our area, they break them down at the stalk  or kick them,about 6 months ago the council planted about 10 big trees along the main shopping strip ,all were destroyed within a month so it seems better to me to spend the money on trees for residents who will look after them.

I often think inner city councils come up with some crazy plans so its nice to see a sensible  one.It got me thinking even if they charged say cost  for them It would be a great way to encourage people to plant Native trees . It was surprising how many people came on foot for them and took them off on trolleys ,as i dont drive its hard to get to the big nurseries and get a big tree home so it would really be great to buy trees off councils. 

[kopenhagen5]

I am a member of a friends group taking part in 6 plantings per year of native plants in parks and creek areas.

Today our group planted approx 7,000 plants in conjunction with the local council.

Some nurseries will propogate extra seedlings to be given to councils. Councils may supply tubes and trays.

We also have days giving free indigenous plants out.

[amalan11]

Wow 7000 that will keep the local wildlife happy

its good you do it regularly,  one thing here iv noticed they do plantings on tree day but never any maintaining in some spots,I always took gloves once a week and ripped out wandering dew ect that starts to smother little tube stock .it only took about 10 min while the dog sniffed around it kept me amused and im not sure they would survive covered in weeds .

in one spot they put in the really large trees and then let them get completely covered in awful weedy vine that nearly killed them all. I spoke to a ranger about it and to his credit I noticed 2 days later all vines were gone and fresh mulch put down ....Marrickville area has the most parkland  in Sydney I think I read so it would be hard to keep up but its a shame to see plantings not looked after once Tree day is over.

Would be great to see kids on welfare do even a couple of hours weeding  or something .

We get the prisoners and community service people collecting trash every weekend but seems no one except volunteers  do weeding.

[kopenhagen5]

Councils will often have people on CBO's do such work but it depends on the council.

Some of our councils here in Melbourne are terrific with maintaining parklands and provide our friends groups with plants whenever we want them.

[go-tazz]

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@amalan11 wrote:

But the other initiative was to offer  Ratepayers  the chance to go and collect  a large bagged Native tree ,there were about 8 types  Eucalyptus, Banksias,Flame Trees and wattles, free with ID .

I got myself a really beautiful 2.5 M  Bottlebrush with about 10 blooms . People responded really well and there were a steady stream of people getting lovely big trees for their yards.

There were council workers there to advise on Your choice and give advice.

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You would think that they would stop people putting Eucalyptus trees into gardens by now,(it's irresponsible

of the council to suggest these trees for a garden).

They are a fast growing tree that needs lots of maintenance and they are called widow makers for a reason:

Eucalypts have a habit of dropping entire branches off as they grow.

Eucalyptus forests are littered with dead branches

http://www.seedlandscapes.com.au/blog/2014/3/14/four-worst-trees-brisbane-gardens

Then once established councils wont let them be cut down unless they are responsible:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/widow-makers-get-the-chop-as-leafy-suburbs-call-halt-on-damage-201...

When you see trees down in news stories where there have been high winds or lots of rain the Eucalyptus

is most likely to be that tree.

[amalan11]

Yes actualy I was a bit surprised that someof the trees were huge growing ones. I have a giant 30x20 m lemon sented gum,it was here when we moved in in 85 although only about 6m then. I love it for the birds and flying foxs it attracts but it gives me a lot of stress in bad weather as those really huge branchs can snap.

I think in a city yard It is not a good idea to put anything over 10m really as they can be an issue any bigger. My guy stretchs over 4 homes in different spots .

[davidc4430]

i have allways believed the best "great incentive to encourage trees" is to stop cutting them down.

we seem to be forever cutting down very old trees because they are in the way of some 'project'

then we plant new trees, trees that are like 1 metre tall and will need 30 years to be a real tree.

madness.

[freshwater-2]

I have a lake front home on the NSW mid north coast.  I have 200 yo huge native  trees that I treasure and protect.

A lot of city people are moving into my village because of the wonerful environment and wildlife.

What is the first thing they do when they move here?

Get oit the chainsaws.  Go figure.

Sure sometimes a tree drops a branch....who cares?

I get the Council in to inspect if I think a branch is dead.  But I insist that some of the hollow  branch is left on the tree....nature's boarding house!

[davidc4430]

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@freshwater-2 wrote:

I have a lake front home on the NSW mid north coast.  I have 200 yo huge native  trees that I treasure and protect.

A lot of city people are moving into my village because of the wonerful environment and wildlife.

What is the first thing they do when they move here?

Get oit the chainsaws.  Go figure.

Sure sometimes a tree drops a branch....who cares?

I get the Council in to inspect if I think a branch is dead.  But I insist that some of the hollow  branch is left on the tree....nature's boarding house!

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exactly, i lived for 30 years on a country property with 100+ year old gum trees all over it. that was why we built there, to be surrounded by nature, trees, kookaburras ect.

now i'm at the bech with no trees in sight, not real trees, just small recently planted trees. i really miss the trees but i'm sure the majority of my neighbours would be horrified if a tree blocked their view of the sea.

so besides black birds and sparrows and pidgeons attracted by the wheat silos and millions of seagulls, there are no aussie birds here.

[lind9650]

Anyone that watched the opening of the Olympics will have seen how important the planting and care of trees is. I loved that part of the opening more than all the light shows.

We can not live without trees.

Erica