Avenue tree, what to pick

7 years ago

Hi,

i am thinking of planting an avenue of Ginkgo. Everyone says they are so slow growing but they are so beautiful. We are on 35,000sqmt so plenty of room. Building a really modern house overlooking a valley. Pear trees are nice but a little boring. Otherwise the Toykyo Cheery appeals however not sure if it will grow large enough. I am in the Adelaide Hills Australia. Climate quite wet, cold winters, snows 1 night once in a blue moon ( I.e every 20 yrs) but doesn't stick. Warm summers up to 35 deg for a few short weeks on/off. Watering won't be a problem as we have bores if needed. Should I go for a ginkgo or something faster growing like a maple, or ash tree??

Thanks

Featured Answer

shaxhome (Frog Rock, Australia 9b)

7 years ago

As a lover and proponent of Oz native plants, it always upsets me to see locals planting exclusively exotic species in our beautiful countryside. Although,as said above, if the OP likes Ginkgos, of course he should plant them. But Maples, Ash, Cherries as alternatives? So sad.

There are more than 700 Eucalyptus species here, with a huge diversity of size, shape, habit and flower colours. And they are fast growers. (And no, sadly the rainbow euc. wont grow in OP's location.)

You want a Euc. avenue?

Comments (13)

wisconsitom
7 years ago
Gingkos are great trees and yes, sometimes a bit on the slow-growing side. I think this latter factor has as much to do with soil and other site conditions as anything. I like your initial idea better than maples, ash, etc.

In my part of the world-and most all of the US south and east of where I'm at, some ornamental pears-Callery pear to be specific-has turned into an invasive monster. Not at all sure if such is true in Oz, but might be something to investigate.
edlincoln
7 years ago
If you have your heart set on Gingkos, get Gingkos. Maple are a little boring. Is Emerald Ash Borer a problem where you are?

The other option would be a native xeric species...some kind of gum tree, or eucalyptus.
Related Discussions
Help on picking a tree
Q
Comments (6)
Well I was thinking about getting a Fukon Tea tree and something else, but I don't know if you can raise a Fukon Tea Tree inside, since I know that you can't raise a juniper inside under lightes or can you. Also I was thinking about growing a Texas Ebony out side and was wondering if it would live. The shelter thing is I would try building it on the west side of my house and was wondering if I could just build a shelf that leaned against my house, but the white tile thing would be a good thing for the juniper and also would it be a good thing for all the other bonsais I would be growing outside.
...See More
Avenue ideas
Q
Comments (3)
Dont know where you are in qld so hard to gave any suggestions however avoid conifers as they have a very nasty habit of just dropping dead at random and thats the end of the formal avenue. Palms can look great with a tropical house design. Need to work out carefully space available (width) as there is nothing worse than a great avenue that has to be hacked back to let the car up the drive. If you contact me by email with more details I would love to make some suggestions/comments about suitable options, but need to know what area of q you are in.
...See More
need help picking trees for backyard landscape. Have pictures
Q
Comments (10)
I do LOVE my red push pistache and I recommend them to many clients who want a beautiful shade tree. I do not think they are messy. Of course they go dormant so you need to be ok with no leaves in the winter. But each tree will act different depending on the temp where it is planted. I saw 2 today full of leaves! The pistache requires more water than our desert trees. The difference with the citrus is that you will want to do deep watering often in the summertime. You must be careful though and make a well around the trunk as you do not want the citrus trunk to ever get wet. You also want to fertilize the citrus and be sure to paint the trunks in the spring so they do not get burnt in the summer. I would stay away from the sissoos. Once you have them they will spread roots looking for water. If they reach grass you can bet on little babies popping up everywhere! I am an arborist and I cannot tell you how many we have removed in the past 5 years. Once removed none of the root system can have any water or sunlight or you will be sure to have babies everywhere. You definitely have room for the swan hill olive (fruitless variety) and I agree that they are super clean. They will send suckers up at the base all the time and you will want to cut these back. I really like the tipu tree also. It does get very large, has beautiful leaves and small yellow flowers. it will defoliate late winter and immediately send new leaves out again. Below is a baby and a close up of the leaves. I was really glad to see you have the trees spaced far apart. So many times trees are planted too close and end up competing for sun. I hate removing trees for this reason. Good luck!
...See More
Help pick out shrubs and trees (Zone 6b)
Q
Comments (6)
Does your road ever get plowed to clear snow in winter? Ever get salted? If the answer to either question is yes, you don't want shrubs, especially evergreens like boxwood between the road and the fence. Also, how much room is there? I am not entirely sure that there is room for boxwoods in that spot unless you want to learn how to shear them when they start to get larger a few years down the road. Do folks ever park along the road? If yes, how would a passenger get out of the car? While what you have there may have gotten weedy and out of control, there may be other perennials that will do well there if you plant just a couple of types of hardy, dense-growing perennials such as one of the groundcover perennial geraniums. Regardless of what you have there, it will need something for weed control, but which plants you choose may increase or reduce the amount of weeding. The easiest is grass since all you have to do is mow and weed whack along the fence. Dense growing perennials of just one or two kinds might work. If no snow, some densely growing shrubs might work if well-mulched. Regardless, anything other than grass will need some weeding, at least for a while until it fills in, and even then will need some a few times annually based on my experience. For your backyard, are you interested in tall deciduous trees or evergreens, or do you want shrubs? Or some tall and some shorter plants? Is it more that you don't want to see all of the neighbors' yard or just all of the fence? Do you want year round coverage or is that not important?
...See More
User
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Since the demise of elm, we have had a tradition of linden avenues (either pollarded or left to grow to statuesque heights)...whilst I have always been fond of hornbeam. London Plane is also a popular tree and currently unaffected by the scourge of leaf miner or the various phytoptheras afflicting many of our trees. For sure, eucalypts are fast...but they do seem to have a leaning tendency which might not be good in an avenue.
wisconsitom
7 years ago
.....but, Ed's suggestion is one that occurred to me shortly after my earlier reply. Are there not some fine native Aussie trees (Not "Aus-Trees", lol) that you could work with? And when we ponder eucalypts in Australia, we're talking about what.....several hundred different species? Surely, they're not all the same.

Tick, does the rainbow eucalyptus grow there? Maybe the most eye-popping of all trees when well-grown.
tickjohnston
7 years ago
The whole 33,000 is native bush. We have hundreds of significant gum trees I am planning on lighting up. We are keeping 92% native bush, thought it would be nice to have a drive of colour. Also we are the highest fire zone and I've read the non natives create a good fire break as they hold more water and don't have the oils in them. The avenue of gums look a bit boring to me , only as the whole 3.3 acres looks like that. It wouldn't stand out. You wouldn't pick it out in a forest of gum trees :) An avenue of blossom or something different would be nice.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
A random Google result for Australian Native Flowering trees. Looks like there are some lovely things that would work. Illawarra Flame Tree looks spectacular.

What's the water situation like?
wisconsitom
7 years ago
I knew there were a lot of eucalypts down there, but 700! Amazing plants, I'd not shy away from the lot of them if this were my project. Of course, it isn't, lol, and OP has made some reasonable excuses for using the species he or she is intent on using. Floral's link might just contain the star of the show.
tickjohnston
7 years ago
Hi, what's an OP?
Flame trees whilst gorgeous are out as seed pods irritate the airways and skin. Our two kids would surely have an attraction for them.
Cheers though, next :)
wisconsitom
7 years ago
OP is you! Sorry-original poster. don't sweat my wording...just having a bit of fun. I get what you're after, and the firebreak issue is not a small one where you are.
edlincoln
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Gingko are a perfectly good option.

As far as fire breaks....there was recently a study saying Mediterranean Cypress are fire resistant.

These Trees Could Protect Against Wildfires | IFLScience
shaxhome (Frog Rock, Australia 9b)
7 years ago
I take your point about the bushfire hazard, very bad where you are. I live on 100 acres of native bush in central NSW, and have always wanted to line my 850 metre driveway with the beautiful Grevillea robusta (aka Silky Oak), but any unprotected sapling gets eaten by kangaroos, rabbits, wild goats etc...
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
7 years ago
If you got cutting-grown male cultivars of Ginko, assuming there are no female Ginkos in the surrounding area, they would not be an invasive pest.

Avenue tree, what to pick

shaxhome (Frog Rock, Australia 9b)

Comments (13)

wisconsitom

edlincoln

Related Discussions

User

wisconsitom

tickjohnston

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

wisconsitom

tickjohnston

wisconsitom

edlincoln

shaxhome (Frog Rock, Australia 9b)

hoovb zone 9 sunset 23

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US