eucalyptus
...are beautiful and apparently deadly trees. I'm giving myself a crash course in landscaping so that we can have more than just a pile of dirt in our backyard come summer. In the process, I'm learning about native flora and fauna.
You see more eucalyptus trees than palms where we live. The trees were brought from Australia and introduced as a source of lumber for ship-building. Though useful for a time and lovely, the trees are like giant Roman candles waiting to explode in the fire season. The bark and leaves have a disproportionately high oil content that makes them especially flammable. Not the best type of tree for a region with notoriously widespread forest fires.
I think I'll pass on a eucalyptus for our yard.
posted by Jessica @ 8:33 AM
7 Comments:
don't plant sago palms either. if animals eat them they will die.
Sounds like a good plan. Can you grow an orange or lemon tree there? I think that would be cool.
you know...it makes you wonder...how do koala's eat the leaves if it is so deadly?
They also suck water. Prepare for serious subsidence if they are near your house.
Koalas shit non stop, are on a mild narcotic high all the time and have won no olympic medals, nobel prizes or oscars.
Lemon trees have wonderful scented leaves but (I think) have big thorns and are not suitable for a family garden.
Go for indigenous plants. The are eco friendly, usually grow better than other stuff and something else that I have forgotten scince I started typing.
Koalas eat poop.
They do. At least when they are babies. Except we call it pap, not poop, and by eating it from their mother, they ingest the bacteria that ferment the eucalyptus leaves that will be the main meal for these guys for the rest of their lives.
If I had to start my life by eating poop, I'd live in a tree and sleep 20 hours a day, too.
Yeharr
Yuck.
Citrus would be great, but we're just a little too high up the mountain for them.
Looking into the native plants, Rich, thanks.
The nice thing about natives is that you should never have to fertilize or water them either.
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