Sheryl, how close to the tree do you want to plant your veges? Lilly Pilly trees generally don't have very invasive root systems. (In fact, they are recommended for planting around swimming pools). Having said that, ANY large tree will draw nutrients from the surrounding soil, including your vege beds if they are close by. Try asking your question on this related GW forum... (And g'day, Pat! Whaddya mean not many Aussies here?) Regards, Shax Here is a link that might be useful: Aussie Native Plants

That's a mass of fruit. You can only link to one photo for your post. However you can post multiple pictures within the body of the text, but you need to have them on a web-site, like in an album with Photobucket.

I've never heard of any problem with them, Mishka. People can eat them, so I would imagine they'd be safe for dogs. They wouldn't contain any chocolate-like drug. Trish

Gosh, it seems there's huge ecological restoration needed in your neighbourhood, blckrose. You've certainly described an environmental disaster zone of monumentous proportions. All of those factors you mention have had enormous negative impacts on native wildlife thereby causing many people to reach for the sprays because natural controls are no longer present. As you would be aware, Noisy Miners have proliferated because of the massive clearance of native understorey thereby creating their preferred open woodland conditions. You might also be aware that a number of communities are now conducting Indian Mynah eradication programmes in order to encourage the return of native woodland birds, many species of which are threatened but provide wonderful environmental services such as control of insect pests if given the chance. Cat controls are also slowly gathering pace but, of course, much more is needed if we are to have a cat-free, native wildlife restoration culture in Australia. So if we are to reduce the impact & cost of sprays in our environment then the issue needs to be tackled on a very broad, multi-pronged front, as you are perhaps implying, blckrose.