Is there a tree that can do all these things?

21 years ago

I am new to gardening and actually like it (I'm in my mid 30's, old man now but back in my 20's I thought I give it go with indoor plastic plants but they wilted on me - so I gave up for a while, but now getting some real successes).

I have recently landscaped our back yard with a tropical theme. Besides the usual palms, ferns, bamboo, grasses and various flowing small plants like Xanadu, parrots beak etc, I have one spot I would like to plant a tree (or a fruit tree is ok too).

However, I do have some criteria. The local nursery suggested pointsania (know idea how to spell it, hopefully you get my drift though). My uncle suggested a mango tree. But they really don't fit my criteria. Hence this post to the experts - the average aussie gardener.

I want a tree where:

- my kids can climb (they love climbing and I prefer a tree rather than our roof).

- minimal chance of kids getting splinters

- the spot where it will be planted has lots of western sun, a north fence only a metre away (usual 6 feet colourbond), great top soil but typical South East Qld rocky clay under that. We're on top of a hill so we do get good winds frequently, and we're about 6km inland from the ocean (Gold Coast).

- don't want brittle wood/branches as kids will probably live up in the tree

- don't want roots that will destroy my other plants in the gardens on either side of it

- don't want one that drinks heaps of water - as we are on water restrictions probably forever

- we have Santa Anna Couch coming up to the spot - lovely grass (thick, lucious, green, no weeds - my pride and joy), so I don't want this tree recking my hard work with the lawn

- don't really want it to be more than 8m high - ends up being a risk to my house in severe storms

- can be a fruit tree, flowing tree or just plain old normal tree

- want leaves on it all year as I don't want to rake up underneath it all the time or see sticks in the air, as it also does need to provide some privacy from a 3 storey monster house behind me (we have a 1 storey house)

-

- can't really afford a fully grown one, so may have to start with a 1m tall baby - but would like it to get to its full height with a couple years, otherwise children will be teenages - oh dear that's a scary thought

- insect and disease resistant (will accept genetically modified, grafted, from other planets etc)

- but most of all - novice gardener proof, remember plastic plants even die with me

Well thats it - not that I am picky. Not too hard for you folks out there to solve?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

Amelie
21 years ago
Nope ...
User
21 years ago
When you find one let me know too.
Related Discussions
Hi y'all...and what do I do with this crazy thing?
Q
Comments (13)
Hi Mike, nice to meet some other Okie plumie lovers! Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. Somehow I just knew y'all were going to tell me to cut it into pieces. Yikes, I'm scared-lol. Should I try to make the cuts and root it now or should I do as Moonie suggests and wait until spring? I have to admit, I did go to Southwoods and buy another plumie last week. A miniature Divine this time. Didn't want to take the chance of growing another monster-lol. I've also been eyeballing a Scentsational in full bloom. It smells good enough to eat but I'm not ready to spend $80 on a plumie. I went back today just to smell it and talk myself out of it for the 3rd time. I'd love to have the name of any local nursery that sells plumies! Moonie, thanks for the advice ! I appreciate getting help from plumeria growers with more experience and know-how than I have.
...See More
If I Had To Do It All Over Again,Things I Would Do Differently:
Q
Comments (10)
I would have never put braces on my kids when they were younger than 13 years old. I was talked into it for both of them at the same time, 11 & 9 yrs old. Believe it or not! 11 yo got them off around 13 and never wore his retainer. All that money & pain was for naught, his teeth are as bad as ever (at 20 yo). 9 yo had to have them a second time, and by that time, he was still under 13 and I said NO, we'll wait. He got them done again at 14 and got them off at 16 and wears his retainer and has beautiful teeth. In addition to the retainer problems, 11 yo had to get some oral surgery to get some of his teeth to grow in so the brace work could continue properly. I can't help but think that if we'd just waited for all those teeth to grow in on their own, no matter how crooked, all of the bracework would have been done at once, properly and would have lasted. Aside from that, the only other things I would have wanted to be different were out of my control so no point crying about them now. Good discussion question!
...See More
Would This Be a Fun Thing For All of Us to Do?
Q
Comments (114)
This thread keeps popping up...maybe it's time to renew it again. Anyway, here's some pictures of my garden when I was living up in Georgia a few years ago. This was the second year in the house. All the roses I brought with me as cuttings from Florida. There was no room in the truck for furniture because half of it was full of roses. I had my priorities. Front walkway Lavendar Lassie Old Blush and salvia Clematis Nelly Moser Lilies and Evelyn Side yard. I can't remember everything that was planted here, but since I carried over 100 roses north with me, there's a lot. Mme Isaac Periere Phlox in the morning fog Reve d'Or, clematis jackmanii, and wisteria. When they were all blooming, it was heavenly.
...See More
What is the one thing on which we can all agree?
Q
Comments (91)
Any woman who speaks out is labeled a lesbian as is any unmarried woman over 30. Effeminate men are labeled homosexual. The problem with these labels is that the victim cannot disprove them, no matter that they marry, have kids, etc. I believe with every ounce of my being that we have got to see those "labels" exactly the same as saying that someone has brown hair or green eyes. These negative associations need to stop. Now. If I'm 50 and unmarried and someone calls me a lesbian? The appropriate response is not to try to disprove, but to just move along. It's no different than if someone looks at my blonde hair and says I'm a redhead. It's a misstatement of fact, but it's not offensive.
...See More
Related Professionals
Allentown Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Westerly Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · San Francisco Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Eugene Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Hagerstown Landscape Contractors · Rochester Landscape Contractors · Grand Forks Landscape Contractors · Ottawa Landscape Contractors · Toronto Landscape Contractors · Hagerstown Architects & Building Designers · Westminster Architects & Building Designers · Danbury Architects & Building Designers · Leominster Architects & Building Designers · Olean Architects & Building Designers · Green Bay Architects & Building Designers
Amelie
21 years ago
Seriously though, I think your biggest problem is getting it to grow large enough for your kids to climb before they're to old to want to climb it.
wombat
21 years ago
I moved into a house a few weeks before son No.2 was born. There was some sort of grafted maple on which the graft had died and the rootstock (acer negundo - box elder maple) had shot up about 2 metres. I cut off the dead bit and kept the box elder.

It was initially the only tree in the backyard and by the following summer it had enough leaves to give a bit a shade to a wading pool which I would empty in situ. I have never seen a tree grow the way it did - perhaps it was the supply of wading pool water from a few summers. Another summer and it had a branch strong enough to support a toddlers swing. By the time he was old enough to climb a tree, it could be climbed (although at 3 he much preferred the roof!!).

The tree ended up with a bigger swing, a tyre swing, a rope ladder and most of the neighbourhood kids in it. It was magical. In summer we lived under it's shade, it protected the western side of the house from the summer sun, it became whatever the kid's imagination wanted it to be (a circus tent for one party, a fairyland with big painted butterflies hanging from it and candle lanterns made from plastic drink bottles for my daughter's 7th birthday party). The cicadas loved it and the possums used it as a pathway to the roof.

So it was deciduous (plenty of leaves for garden mulch) and the grass wouldn't grow under it (less for me to mow), in time some of the roots expanded above ground and we had the occasional stubbed toe, and it only provided privacy from the neighbour's overlooking kitchen window in summer.

We eventually moved and the loss of the tree was a sadness to us all. The new owners took out just about every tree I planted - but they kept that one.

The kids are grown up now but I still find them showing newer friends photos of their tree.

The elder son is now an outdoor education instructor and the younger one, a uni student, spends a lot of time on indoor rock climbing. And my daughter keeps a small album containing photos of her fairy party by her bed.
artiew
21 years ago
I dont know that anything is *completely* 'idiot proof' (I've killed more plants with over-watering than neglect...), but I do have one tree which seems to take anything Rocky, or I, throw at it. If it were a native, it would be my favourite plant.

Jacaranda.

Is there a tree that can do all these things?

Comments (5)

Amelie

User

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

Amelie

wombat

artiew

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US