Deciduous trees, native or native-sympathetic... ideas?

Hi all,

I'm very when it comes to gardens so be gentle with me! We have exclusively native plants in our garden and our about to get stuck into the front. We will have a semi-circular drive and would like a couple of trees inside the semi circle bit directly in front of the house. Our house is north facing so ideally we would like something deciduous and native.... but my research tells me that there are very few such trees.

Keeping in mind that we will probably not be able to go native, I'm after a few suggestions for trees that will get to around 10m and be sympathic to the rest of the garden which at this stage will most likely be exclusively natives. We are located 50km north of Melbourne.

Thanks.

The only deciduous tree I can think of is a frangi although the native frangipani I don't think is deciduous?

Frangipanis are pretty, but they won't grow in Joles' climate....at least not without a huge struggle.

Have a look at Flemings' site for some tree ideas. They divide them by size and various other attributes so you can narrow down your search to find the perfect match: http://www.flemings.com.au/topten_intro.asp

Gleditsias are beautiful - and deciduous. They might get a bit tall though, I'd have to check. We have one on our nature strip....

Hmm, Flemings reckon they get to 8m.

They sucker up lots and have thorns.
Similar to how Robineas grow.

I'd be looking to the Mallee Eucs. Euc. Silver Princess Might not get to 10m though so would be too small. Not a dense foliage tree and has an open weeping habit. Evergreen though.

Not native but very stunning would be the Albizia Very good shade, wide canopy compared to height. Would get knocked around a bit in the first few winters and then come good every summer. Once bigger they will be fine with the winter.


I KNOW!!!!!
The Claret Ash! Technically an Aussie deciduous tree. Fraxinus oxycarpa raywoodii
It was named after a South Aussie farmer name ... Ray Wood. He noticed one of his Fraxinus oxycarpas developed a bit different to the rest on his property. The rest is history So aussie tree, right size, right habit, colourful. I'd be choosing the claret ash

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I have to have a bit of a rethink. I went up to my neighbours house (still under construction) and their best views from their living areas and alfresco will look straight across where I want to plant the tree and out to the valley. I'm really conscious of not blocking their view so I may have to look at a slightly smaller tree (ok Fu.... under 10metres I guess it's more a big bush than a tree! ).

The Mallee Euc Silver Princess could be a goer.

Two years on from this post and the front yard has still not been touched.
Once the weather is a bit cooler and we have some decent rain we'll get stuck in. The ground is as hard as rock at the moment so it's best to wait.

We have made some decisions though. We will be going with one of Fu's suggestions from earlier in the thread. Two, possibly three, Silver Princess and we may also pop in a Callistemon King's Park Special for a bit of contrasting colour. From there we will do some medium shrubs, kangaroo paw and some grasses. We have a couple of Lomandra in the side garden and they do fantastically well up here. We've decided to ditch the circular drive but will eventually put in post and rail fencing across the front boundary of the house.

Happy to finally have a plan and as soon as it is a bit cooler we will be moving forward.

Joles people down the road have 3 or 4 silver princess trees on the corner verge. Want me to take a pic later today and up load?

2

Don't get me wrong, Silver Princess are stunning feature trees initially but from experience they are problematic after several years. They straggle. Limbs get brittle. They look really, really untidy. Limbs break off. Whereas the Claret Ash Fu suggested maintains a tidier growth habit and looks and stays lovely.

Not something that happens often though. well not that I have come across. Oh no! Diferent experiences
If it does, as George Lulfitz will say, cut them back to the ground and they will regenerate as a whole new tree.
The Silver Princess used as major features at KingsPark have continued to get better and better over 10years or so. No signs of looking shabby.


The Gleditzias will fit in like a glove to a native landscape.
A popular Perth Garden, often open as part of Open Gardens, is Chris Ferriera's garen in Hammy Hill.
An amazing example of Gleditzia used to perfection.

Now if you watch this video, featured is Silver Princess, Chris' garden and the Gleditzia Sunburst in his front yard. (From about 8mins in) Though just noticed it's got no leaves so you hardly see it in the background.
http://vimeo.com/28493417
Also featured is Sabrina Hahn who is one of Australia's most respected Horticultural personalities and leading experts.

Maybe I should add that to the sticky for no lawn from verges.

What about a small fruit tree - most stone fruit will fit the bill, also apples and pears....
I personally quite like the glossy foliage of apple trees as a contrast to the grey and soft looking foliage of a lot of our natives.
You could then add a few low growing native highlights within the garden that visually tied back into this glossy foliage like lomandra grasses, Austromyrtus, or dwarf lilly pillys.

Brilliant idea

We have bit of a fruit grove planned for the backyard. We have some citrus in already, but will be putting some bare rooted trees in over the coming months. I did toy with the idea of a fruit tree iin the front, but with the placement of our pipes and the limitations of placement due to not wanting to compromise our neighbours' view, it became quite difficult.

I have become somewhat obsessed with eucalyptus and the varieties. I'm considering creating an area with a number of euc pressiana. I've read that it tends to only grow to just over a metre in this area as opposed to the 2-3m in WA but I need to do a bit more research. I'd also love a euc macrocarpa but they are apparently very difficult to grow here. Some of the WA mallee gums are just lovely.

My fantastic neighbour hoed the front for us today so we will be moving some soil, creating a parking bay in the front (beyond our land) and I am really taken with the idea of putting in a hardwood morticed post and rail fence across our front boundary just for something different.

Once we have moved the soil, put in some paths and edging, we will get some plants in the ground!

You wouldn't be the last- have you read "Eucalyptus" the novel? Pages and pages of it

Corymbia ficifolia our WA red flowering gum, is a lovely small gum whose flowers are stunning.

And if you like smooth white bark, you can't go past the dwarf variety of Euc. Vitrix (little ghost gum).

A couple of WA growers now suggest to use the Red Flowering gums that are not grafted. They no longer grow grafted specimens. The reason being that as the trees mature, there have been many that break at the graft in adverse weather. It does mean that some variance in height is experienced.

victrix is an absolute beauty.
The Red cap (E. erythrocorys) is a ripper and are putting on one hell of a show this year. Actually all the WA Euc and Corymbias are producing very heavy flower shows indicating a wet winter ahead according to Nyoongar culture.

A novel?
Around a week ago I planted a corymbia ficifolia in the backyard.



That's interesting Fu. Luckily the corymbia I planted is not grafted. I understand that there's also a possibility of it having yellow or white flowers. I'm not bothered if it does, red, orange, yellow... I'll be happy with whatever it gives me. The possible height variation won't be an issue in the position it's in. The non- grafted are significantly cheaper to purchase.

I honestly didn't realise there was such a variation in the gums. I could fill the entire property with them.

Fu, that's what I like to hear. Bring on the rain!

Yes, a novel. It was going to be made into a film starring Nicole Kidman...but they had script problems- probably what to do with the pages and pages of eucalypt descriptions As you can tell Corymbia isn't a gum strictly speaking, I am sure whatever colour you will be happy with it!!