Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 25, 2011 6:47 pm Am looking for a small feature tree, will be planted under a powerline so cannot get too big. Location is beachside suburb, Geraldton WA. Am tossing up between Hakea laurina and Corymbia ficifolia, does anyone have any comments re either or both of these? Or any other suggestions. Amoungst natives. Also, as we are not allowed to stake trees (cos Fu says so) how can I get it to grow upright? Friend has a couple of Winpara Gem grevilleas which are growing well but have taken a decidedly sideways direction due to prevailing winds, is there anyway of getting them straighter? Only options I can think of are staking (!) or pruning off the sideways branches to try to encourage growth of the upright variety. Also, when shaping small trees when do you start taking off branches to get the shape you want - from the beginning or later on once the tree has developed? Also trying to decide on creeper for small windbreak trellis in same location - trying to choose between Hardenbergia comptoniana and the Kennadias. Any comments much appreciated. cheers Re: Small feature tree (and other assorted) 2Feb 01, 2011 12:31 pm It's tough where you are not to stake trees because of the wind. The problem is, once they are staked, they may need it for life. This is at the extreme end of what many trees grow like where Keen is. -seriously too. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The best thing to do is get them shorter once planted. You can bet that when you buy them, grown further south they are tall and flippy floppy. I would selectively prune and shape them shorter, more robust and then see how they go. Following that two stakes maybe needed in the extreme conditions of Gero (anyone who has been there will know what I mean) Let the plant fall about between two stakes rather than hard staking with one. That way the stem thickens and strengthens but the support has a little give. Re: Small feature tree (and other assorted) 3Feb 01, 2011 9:23 pm Fu Manchu It's tough where you are not to stake trees because of the wind. The problem is, once they are staked, they may need it for life. This is at the extreme end of what many trees grow like where Keen is. -seriously too. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The best thing to do is get them shorter once planted. You can bet that when you buy them, grown further south they are tall and flippy floppy. I would selectively prune and shape them shorter, more robust and then see how they go. Following that two stakes maybe needed in the extreme conditions of Gero (anyone who has been there will know what I mean) Let the plant fall about between two stakes rather than hard staking with one. That way the stem thickens and strengthens but the support has a little give. On the West coast of Ireland where they get the strong Atlantic winds they only have stakes 1ft. high and it seems to work.It gives the tree its strength from a very young age. Topiarius Re: Small feature tree (and other assorted) 4Feb 02, 2011 1:40 am The ficifolia would be good, what about Eucalyptus platypus? Coastal moorte Way better Re: Small feature tree (and other assorted) 5Feb 02, 2011 1:44 am Eucalyptus rhodantha or macrocarpa, even better still! When grow domestically they can be shaped as they grow to become one of the most attractive of all the Eucs. macrocarpa has the largest of all Euc flowers. Silver foliage on both, neither grows tall 2-3m and they handle conditions there easy Re: Small feature tree (and other assorted) 6Feb 09, 2011 12:08 pm Thanks Fu. I cannot imagine a macrocarpa as an attractive tree, could you point me to an image of an example. I think the ones I have seen, especially in the wild at Eneabba are vey ugly - leggy and not tree shaped at all. Would be cool to get one to look like a tree though, huge flowers,very similar to fejioa. Re: Small feature tree (and other assorted) 7Feb 09, 2011 11:48 pm They have shaped some at Kings Park and both Macrocarpa and Rhodantha (similar) come up well. Marmion Ave in Perth's north has some nice enough poorly maintained specimens. Hi , I'm currently going through this now within the Whitehorse council which has a similar set of restrictions. We're having to make compromises with our floor plan due… 3 30668 I recently went through a similar renovation and move scenario when updating our family home. We also swapped some rooms around and tackled a major… 2 9755 Recently I moved to a 30 year old house and found within few months there are small brown nests in the brick mortar and few small round holes in few places of brick… 0 22672 |