what tree to plant?

[*mrgrizz*]

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? 

[gleee58]

Some of the native myrtles are nice and not too large... or magnolia of you want to try a foreigner   😄

[lal-au0]

magnolias.....they make their flower buds for the next year in the summer before.

but only if they are wet then (in summer). again: where i come from the soil never dries out, not even in summer. watering the garden is unheard of.

there the magnolias are magnificent! trees just full of flowers. yes i said TREES not straggling shrubs, they are trees over there with a so many flowers that you can't see the trunk of the tree. thousands of flowers while here you get but a few flowers on a straggeling shrub barely surviving the summer.

plant something that likes the climate.

[lal-au0]

sorry i think i didn't make it quite clear:

if you have a magnolia the soil needs to be constantly wet ALL THE TIME in order to produce flowers.

that is why the magnolias you see here have only very few flowers. it's too dry here. even in tasmania.

you may think they look "nice enough" until you see a magnolia in full flower in a wet climate.

it breaks my heart to see them here struggle only making a few flowers.

[j*oono]

You can grow Port Wine Magnolias in WA where Mr Grizz is but they aren't really good shade trees.  They do grow well though.

The beautiful Magnolias don't grow well in WA unless you live high up in Araluen which gets super cold in winter.

[gleee58]

---

@lal-au0 wrote:

magnolias.....they make their flower buds for the next year in the summer before.

but only if they are wet then (in summer). again: where i come from the soil never dries out, not even in summer. watering the garden is unheard of.

there the magnolias are magnificent! trees just full of flowers. yes i said TREES not straggling shrubs, they are trees over there with a so many flowers that you can't see the trunk of the tree. thousands of flowers while here you get but a few flowers on a straggeling shrub barely surviving the summer.

plant something that likes the climate.

---

Yeah, I don't know where grizz lives but for some reason thought it was south and ruralish. I'm probably way off the mark :D. Magnolias grow well in some places here and don't tend to grow too large.  Not much use in very hot dry cities.  

[gleee58]

---

@j*oono wrote:

You can grow Port Wine Magnolias in WA where Mr Grizz is but they aren't really good shade trees.  They do grow well though.

The beautiful Magnolias don't grow well in WA unless you live high up in Araluen which gets super cold in winter.

---

Well there you go. I didn't know Mr Grizz lived in WA.  I thought he lived in Victoria.  I've lived in some wet areas in Australia and they grow very nicely in those areas.  

[chameleon54]

---

@am*3 wrote:

Golden Robinia trees are nice. I have had them before. I just googled them and it said the suckers ( from root stock) popping up at the base are a problem.

We had silver birch trees when I lived in NZ, they grew huge.  One house we had 3 in a row in a small piece of lawn near the house, had to cut them out, and they were still fairly small size then.

---

Robinias like a good deep watering from time to time. The suckers usually only cause issues if they are neglected or recieve light surface watering.

lal_au0     The problems with most natives have been covered by other posters. The OP wants a tree. Eucalypts are usually messy, unreliable size wise and roots can be a problem.Acacias ( wattles ) are messy, fast growing but short lived. They reach maturity and then die. Longer lived acacias such as bailyana ( cootamundra wattle ) drop branches. Most melaleucas are bushy shrubs rather than trees. They drop a lot of leaves and flowers and tend to get straggly unless pruned to shape. Most bottle brushes of tree size, drop leaves and flowers and are unreliable regards size and shape.

Anything that is going to be planted 4 metres from the house needs to be as clean as possible, reliably upright in growth habit, not having agressive roots and be reasonably reliable height wise.  It may be that fire resistance is also consideration. ( the oil in eucalypts and melaleucas acts as strong fuel source in bushfires )

The common ornamentals meet these criteria better than most natives. I do love natives and have correas, melaleucas, eucalypts and eremophilas in my own garden.   

[lal-au0]

aahhh WA

so:

i live in sa which is a very similar climate.

there are as i said before some native plants that are suicidal and there are some that you just plant, water the first year or so and they just go bonkers.

lagunaria petersonii - grows faster the more you water it. lovely tree.

there is the flinders range wattle (acacia iteaphylla) indestructible, no need to water it, nice smell but only grows 5 m or so. they don't sell it here anymore cos it's sort of a weed but i can send you seeds if you want it.

as you are in wa i think the acacia salicina as mentioned before would be nice for you.

pepper trees are not native but hardy if you like them.

i would NOT recommend a syzygium (slow growing) for WA or callistemon as they like water.

banksias grow slowly unless you chose a banksia integrifolia which grows quite fast but will require watering.

[lal-au0]

---

@chameleon54 wrote:

---

@am*3 wrote:

Golden Robinia trees are nice. I have had them before. I just googled them and it said the suckers ( from root stock) popping up at the base are a problem.

We had silver birch trees when I lived in NZ, they grew huge.  One house we had 3 in a row in a small piece of lawn near the house, had to cut them out, and they were still fairly small size then.

---

Robinias like a good deep watering from time to time. The suckers usually only cause issues if they are neglected or recieve light surface watering.

lal_au0     The problems with most natives have been covered by other posters. The OP wants a tree. Eucalypts are usually messy, unreliable size wise and roots can be a problem.Acacias ( wattles ) are messy, fast growing but short lived. They reach maturity and then die. Longer lived acacias such as bailyana ( cootamundra wattle ) drop branches. Most melaleucas are bushy shrubs rather than trees. They drop a lot of leaves and flowers and tend to get straggly unless pruned to shape. Most bottle brushes of tree size, drop leaves and flowers and are unreliable regards size and shape.

Anything that is going to be planted 4 metres from the house needs to be as clean as possible, reliably upright in growth habit, not having agressive roots and be reasonably reliable height wise.  It may be that fire resistance is also consideration. ( the oil in eucalypts and melaleucas acts as strong fuel source in bushfires )

The common ornamentals meet these criteria better than most natives. I do love natives and have correas, melaleucas, eucalypts and eremophilas in my own garden.   

---

sorry forgot:

melaleuca nesophyla. very pretty, not really a tree but a tall shrub but grows like mad, no need to water, indestructable. bunnings seels them in their 3-$ section regularly. i can send you seeds as well.

correas - too hot and dry here. i have some surviving ones in my garden but it is a struggle. they are plants for victoria. i love them but  it's just too harsh here for them.

[chameleon54]

Melaleuca Nesophylas are a nice shrub, very hardy, but not really a tree. They are variable in growth habit. Some stay nice and tight in shape, but usually they just spread out like topsy. They are a nice filler for the back section of a large native garden or windbreak for farm, but probably not best to plant four metres from the house. They can be planted in a row and pruned for an informal hedge.