I saw some baby ones yesterday and dismissed the idea as, who has room. But then, this morning I thought actually maybe we do have room in one particular spot, so long as there's nothing under the yard that the roots could wreck. How can you check out where pipes and such might be running through? Do councils supply plans like that, and if so what are they called? TIA
buzzy110,
Mar 29, 6:16pm
Maybe your Council has digitised your plans. You should be able to find them on the net using your address and DP number, if I remember rightly. They have drainage plans. I don't know about underground wiring plans.
Personally, I wouldn't plant a pohutukawa on a standard ¼ acre section. We had 2 on a ½acre section and even though they were well away from things they still managed to wreck the driveway, the guttering had to be cleaned out monthly or the leaves blocked it, twice a year they flower then release the little yellow stamen that is a prickle so you cannot walk around in bare feet, or even jandals without having to remove prickles out of your feet, they make hundreds of little seedlings that have to be removed out of the smallest spaces like concrete grooves, between boards, etc and they suck up water and nutrients in the soil at a great rate of knots making it difficult to maintain a decent garden. I could go on and mention the never ending battle with leaves and twigs everywhere.
Stay away from big trees like that. They have no place in a suburban garden.
dibble35,
Mar 29, 6:49pm
You can buy smaller growing pohutukawas though - that get to around 3-4 m tall. Ones called vibrance, springfire, theres lots more but cant think of them at the moment.
margo191,
Mar 29, 7:47pm
I have pohutukawas growing nearby - my gutterings are always clogged up with all the flowers, seeds, twigs etc from these trees. Can't chop down cos protected species on Council land. I would not deliberately plant a large sized species close to a residence. The small variety may be okay.
Thanks all for the advice. We already get clogged gutters from other tall trees, so not so worried about that. More concerned to hear about the prickles, and what I suspected, the roots becoming a problem.
I am looking for something that will grow quite quickly, that has a trunk (as opposed to a shrub-type habit), is not deciduous and has a canopy about 3-4m high. It's for a corner of the garden that is quite overlooked, and I thought a decent-sized tree might solve that quite well, as well as providing some nice summer shade.
Any ideas for alternative trees? Or like buzzy says all big trees bad idea? What about fruit trees maybe? Don't want to do anything that's going to be stupid, but would quite like to make an unused part of the property useable and add value rather than adding issues.
buzzy110,
Mar 29, 10:44pm
Maybe a 5 finger or a lancewood. They are not big trees but they are also not intrusive. The lancewood, unfortunately, is quite slow to develop its canopy, spending a couple of years as just a long stick with long narrow serrated leaves coming off it but when it finally does develop its canopy it is quite attractive.
Avocado might possibly fit your criteria. No really a canopy tree until they get quite old but they do bush out and are not the hassle that pohuts are.
rainrain1,
Mar 29, 11:46pm
Just chopped out a Lancewood, the adult leaves are a pain in a ass for getting in the guttering of the house
venna2,
Mar 29, 11:55pm
Why not plant feijoas instead? They are related and also have attractive red flowers . but unlike pohutakawa trees, they produce wonderful fruit!
rsr72,
Mar 29, 11:58pm
Well said. They are not for small suburban sections.
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