By Beatrice Hawkins
I have been waxing eloquent lately about the beauty of the deciduous tree in the new England as I’ve driven through. But our own claret ash in Palmerin St are turning looking beautiful now and will soon be ready for their “jumpers” in July.
The Horticultural Society is pleased to announce that “The Garden Extravaganza” will once again be held during “Jumpers and Jazz in July”. The venue, as usual, will be St Mary’s Hall in Wood St and there will be lots of stalls and items of gardening interest to see and buy. A Covid Plan will be in place so you will be able to attend with confidence.
However, as I’ve driven around lately I’ve been reminded of a variety of tree that we had on the property when I was newly married. At the moment they are looking quite attractive as they have turned a lovely yellow as winter approaches.
It was commonly known as a “heaven tree”, and was a real nuisance as it really took over areas.
It had been brought out by the Chinese and planted in areas where they were prospecting for gold. Apparently it has human medicinal uses and I guess that it was why the prospectors brought it with them. There was such an area on the river country on that property at Mudgee.
The botanical name is Ailanthus Altissima, and other than heaven tree, common names are varnish tree, stink tree, stinking sumac, or in Chinese, chouchun. It is more often found in temperate climates than tropics and to be honest I haven’t noticed to many of them in our area..
Before I knew what it was and how invasive it could be, I thought it looked really nice in clumps in the paddocks with the new leaves being a lovely red! However I soon found out what a nuisance it could be.
The leaves have a nasty smell when they are crushed and the trees have poisons in the bark, flowers and leaves that are toxic to domestic pets, native animals and native vegetation. It reproduces readily from the many seeds and also suckers readily from the shallow roots and forms thick clumps that out compete everything around them. Cutting them down only causes them to sucker more freely and this can happen many yards away from the parent tree and may keep appearing for many years.
With the increase in subdivision in the Tamworth area particularly I have seen a big increase in the areas being taken over by this introduced pest species. They are really difficult to eradicate and small landholders with lifestyle hobby blocks obviously do not see the need.
Other pests I have had numerous emails about lately are fire ants and plague locusts. While fire ants don’t appear to be a problem in our local area at the moment they are proving a problem not far over the range. It is recommended that untreated soil should not come into the area with plants from around Brisbane.
Plague locusts are a recurring problem in many farming areas and I guess the lands boards are sending out information hoping that forewarned is forearmed and that landholders won’t have to avail themselves of it this year. About 40 years ago at Narromine we had a small area of a wheat crop attacked and absolutely stripped in a matter of hours. The rest of the paddock wasn’t touched and the only explanation in my mind for that was that it was an act of God. About half an acre in a crop of 1000 acres was all that was destroyed and they moved on with no action from us other than prayer.
On that same property we lived through an horrendous mouse plague and I really can commiserate with anyone enduring the plague at the moment.
I am still enjoying the beauty of the assorted exotic trees that are in full colour on the tablelands at the moment. Liquidambar styraciflua have really put on a show this week. I just love those trees and think the name, “liquidambar” is so beautiful and evocative. The colours of their autumn foliage is so spectacular from glowing yellow to bright red/orange and finally deep crimson and claret. I know they drop their leaves and this annoys some people and makes work in tidying the yard and clearing gutters, but if your area is large enough they certainly make a spectacular specimen tree in the colder areas. They are the street tree of choice down either side of the Oxley Highway as you enter Walcha and always look spectacular at this time of year.
The wonderful autumn colours of these exotic trees is compensation for living in the cold areas where they truly shine.
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