The Tree Blog

Melbourne’s Lone Pine dying from fungus

admin — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:39:43 +0000

Arborists haverevealed that one of Melbourne’s ceremonious trees is suffering Sphaeropsis blight and the outlook is not good. Planted in 1933 from a seed, the Turkish pine (Pinus brutia) is now dying.

Tree fuel replace diesel ? Pongamia biofuel might

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:39:37 +0000

Interesting article in the Herald Sun about the creation of a potential new Queensland industry by harvesting the oil of Pongamia Miletta, a tree native to Papua New Guinea.

Myrtle Rust – One big growing problem for Australian native trees

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:25:24 +0000

The Australian reports that Myrtle Rust, a fungus that affects Myrtaceae (around 80% of all native Australian trees) is cutting an unstoppable path across the continent.

In NSW, they thought they had it under control, until it spread to Queensland and now Victoria.

Just how many trees will die from this introduced pest remains to be seen, but one thing is certain, its not going to be controlled any time soon ….

Vigilante tree loppers get fines

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 02:42:57 +0000

It doesn’t pay to do the local council’s work and trim the street trees on your local nature strip.

A man from the Melbourne beachside suburb of Brighton has copped a $20,000 fine for trimming a street tree to improve his view of the sea …

Woman charged with torching 3,500 year old tree

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 02:49:24 +0000

A woman has been charged with torching a 35 century old 35 metre tall cyprus tree ..

Free trees for Brisbane

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:37:12 +0000

Cupaniopsis anacardioides (Tuckeroo) one of the species council is giving away

Brisbane City Council is giving away free trees to ratepayers as part of its Free Plants Program.

That’s right … free trees !

The species include shade trees such as weeping myrtle, tuckeroo, tulipwood, scrub cherry, small leaved lilly pilly; feature trees such as bluebery ash, lemon scented tea tree, ivory curl, honeysuckle oak, golden penda, flame tree and piccabeen palm.

Bonsai Clubs

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:51:46 +0000

Miniature trees are not really my thing nor is the ancient art of Japanese Bonsai, but one thing I did not know is that there exists Bonsai clubs where people meet to share the craft, let alone hundreds of them – right across the country.

Brisbane declares war on dangerous trees

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:48:19 +0000

In the wake of recent severe storms Brisbane City Council has banned use of Leopard Trees (Caesalpinia ferrea or Brazilian Ironwood) and will begin forcibly removing dangerous trees from public places and replacing street trees with storm resistant species and hiring arborists to professionally remove them.

Melbourne may lose almost half its historic trees

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:30:48 +0000

Melbourne's famous Fitzroy Garden's elms are dying - Image by Melburnian on Wikipedia

Melbourne, an Australian city famous for its parks and gardens is about to lose half its historic trees due to ongoing drought and water restrictions according to a recent article in The Age.

The trees in the historic stands of elms in the Fitzroy Gardens in East Melbourne and the famous palms of the Catani gardens in St Kilda are all but dead, the report claims, with the local councils apparently powerless to do anything about it. It is perhaps ironic that in their century or longer histories these trees have survived the Elm bettle, Dutch Elm disease and Fusarium wilt only to die from a lack of anyone willing to water them ….

What is effectively a boon for Melbourne’s arborists could be the beginning of bad times for the city’s tourism industry if its trees die.

Gale Force Winds bring trees down in VIC

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:46:20 +0000

On the weekend trees were brought down by wild weather across Melbourne and Victoria.

Gusts of wind up to 110 kilometres per hour were recorded.

A tree crashed into a house in Belgrave, while trees crashed onto roads in country Victoria.