You might get away with teasing a few roots from the bundle but natives as a rule do not like their roots disturbed. How was the root ball when you removed it from the pot? I must admit, I'm guilty of upending pots at the nursery before purchasing and putting them back on the bench if the roots are massed and balled. I once had a 'Summer Red' Euc. which flowered, and also grew, erractically and so I dispensed with it: growth wise it didn't seem to know what to do. Last year I bought by mail order an orange flowering one, and while it too seems to loose it's way a bit, I have managed to prune it to a nice shape. Hasn't flowered yet. You might check your soil, maybe it could use a little iron, try iron chelates, available any where plants are sold. Also remember we've had plenty of rain this summer and if your soil is not well drained that could be the problem. If it is well drained try a little fertiliser-for-natives. It's not absolutely necessary to cut the seed heads or dead flowers away, that's only done to promote more flowers and growth.

Drew, I can send you some seed of a few of the varieties you listed if you are interested - they grow locally or as street trees in my area. Im pleased that you are interested in our beautiful aussie flora. Cheers

All leaves of all trees are lost eventually, it's just that the life of any one leaf varies according to species and sometimes to environment -- anything from under 1 year (most deciduous trees) to over 20 years on some araucarias. I think in most eucalypts leaf life is in the 2 to 4 year range. Then they fall, but not all at once.

For the record I work in a bush crew company and know a bit about weed control. Now glyphosphate is great for killing weedy grasses/monocotyledons but, despite the false advertising, it is generally ineffective or less effective against broad leaf weeds/dicotyledons. Now remember that plants with strappy leaves e.g. Dianella/Flax Lilies are, like grasses, monocotyledons and will be greatly effected by roundup. It definately will do little or nothing to Soursob/Oxalis. For this weed and many others like it that have bulbs you need to use much stronger broad leaf/woody weed specific herbicides such as KambaM, Brushoff/Esteem or Garlon. I recently checked up on regulations regarding these and it seems that, in Victoria, you are allowed to use amine formulations of these herbicides without an Agricultural Chemical Users Permit. But I recomend that these should be used with caution in terms of OH&S and environment. Painting preparations of these on to weeds would be OK as long as you wear appropriate safety gear. Bearing in mind that glyphosphate does not work that well on docotyledons, most native shrubs are not greatly effected by small amounts of it. The foliage that is hit by the glyphosphate will obviously die however unless you some how accidently spray 100% of foliage it is highly unlikely that the tree or shrub will be killed outright. If weedy grasses are the problem then you can use Fusilade which is a specific grass killer. Unless anyone out there knows of any exceptions, this can be sprayed over all dicotyledons, sedges and rushes. Ideal for a garden beds infested with couch or kikuyu. Not suitable for use near edge of water however.