Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Dec 07, 2011 9:13 am My parents house is on a few hundred acres in central Victoria. The soil there is poor (quartz reef mostly with clay on top) and the area suffers from quite severe frosts in winter. Rainfall is low but they have several dams to draw from. Wherever there has been planting soil and mulch is brought in and the existing soil is heavily cultivated by a post hole digger, backhoe and ripper tines on the tractor. Mulch is usually straw like lucerne. Irrigation is by drippers with dam water. For xmas, Mum has asked for some large trees that fit the following requirements. I am struggling to find anything that fits these: In order of descending importance: - Not deciduous - Fast growing - Frost tolerant - Hardy (low water consumption) - Wind tolerant By large, she means grows to 30 feet plus. Unfortunately I drive a regular sedan so whatever the tree is now needs to fit in there (so probably 8 or 12 inch pots, up to 5 feet high). About all I've been able to come up with are the following: - Evergreen Alder Alnus jorulensis, I've got some of these in Melb and they rocket up out of the ground. Mum has two of these and they are OK but the wind knocks them around a bit. They grow much slower up there (due to soil/water). - Ornamental Pear (Everscreen), Not sure of the latin name but these are not completley deciduous and seem to be frost tolerant if protected for the first few years. Not a huge tree but still reasonably big if given free reign - Peppercorn tree. Again, not sure of the latin name but these are really hardy. They just grow a bit slow. - Castewellan (gold). Hardy but slow growing. - Bankisias (various), again slow. - Bog standard pine trees (grow reaalllly slow). - The usual assortment of Juniper and other cypresses. So basically, I'm after suggestions of what I can get in and around Melbourne as a gift. Failing that, I'll drive up to the area around Mum's house and ask the local nursery. She's also tried - Paulownia (sapphire dragon) and the frost murdered it, even covered up by a sheet each night. - Maple (wind destroyed it despite stakes, stockings and wire) For interest, here is the area in front of the house where the trees would be added. That area in the photo has been planted for about 5 years now and has a pond in the middle with an island (the willow trees grow out of the island). It's mostly fruit trees with some cypresses, planes and other stuff around. The site is south facing (the camera in this photo looks north towards the house), full sun, windbreaks (gum forest) on all sides except north. Slopes downhill to the south. Thanks in advance for any help. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Frost tolerant, fast growing large tree, not deciduos 2Dec 11, 2011 7:40 pm Feijoa Don't plant the conifers or pines. The ornamental pears are wonderful but will tend to be deciduous Olives will go ok. They grow them here in frost prone areas. Re: Frost tolerant, fast growing large tree, not deciduos 3Dec 12, 2011 6:53 am Fu Manchu Feijoa Don't plant the conifers or pines. The ornamental pears are wonderful but will tend to be deciduous Olives will go ok. They grow them here in frost prone areas. Hmmm Guavasteen, that's weird enough to work. I went to the wholesale nursery on the weekend and got a bunch of stuff. I got stuff that maybe might work on the basis that Mum would never but it herself unless it's a sure bet so she ends up with the same old trees (and about 300 roses) all the time. I can't remember what I bought except for a Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia) and Agonis Flexuosa (that one is really pretty), I'll post up the list tomorrow. I'll have a look for a guavasteen on the weekend. Thanks Fu. 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 consider putting in wall WC instead of robe in the same bedroom, then it might be doable to hook up to the existing piping. 4 6611 4 4444 |