TREE-TISE ●
Yellow is the theme colour for a bank Leigh Bramwell wants to plant up in trees
HAVINGOVERPLANTEDTHISGARDEN at the beginning, and told white lies to The Landscaper about the sizes of the trees I chose, it has nowbeen a long time since we’ve needed (or wanted) to buy any more.
But lately we’ve had a bit of a hankering forsome new trees and decidedwecan plant at the top of the bank on our southeastern side and give ourselves something newto look at.
“What shallweplant?” weasked each other and, surprisingly, drew a bit of a blank. I’d seen an Acacia bravissima (Ovens Wattle) at the garden centre a while ago but, while I love the foliage, I’m not fond of yellow so I held back.
But oncewestarted working out howto plant the bank I decided I could put up with yellow— it seems appropriate for the eastern boundary— and then the idea of more yellow trees took hold.
“Kowhai,” said The Landscaper, and I found myself liking the idea. Not to be outdone, I jumped on the native bandwagon and submitted the yellow pohutukawa.
Within half an hourwehad a lengthywishlist, including a fewwhite flowering trees to provide visual relief from all that yellow, and this is what’s on it.
Acacia howittii, also known as sticky wattle, is a Ferrari when it comes to speed of growth. It has weeping branches and foliage, it’s evergreen, and it tolerates any weather and most soil conditions, and it only grows to about two metres in 10 years, all of which make it almost the perfect plant.
And here’s anotherweeper (I’m not a sad sack, honestly, but I do love weeping trees) with golden blossoms and light green foliage. It’s Laburnum alpinum Pendulum, more commonly knownas weeping scotch laburnum. It likes a sunny area with all day sun and soil that won’t dry out. The branches, foliage and flowers are all weeping, so it’s a triple whammy.
Notree project at our place would be complete without amagnolia, and thankfully, there is a yellow flowering variety. It’s called Sunsation and it produces soft, lemony blooms blushed with a hint of red at the centre and base. It’s deciduous tree and will grow to around five metres once mature. Within The Landscaper’s tolerance level, then.
I’ve often complained that the red of our national icon, the pohutukawa, isn’t really bright enough formytaste, andnow I’ve discovered there’s a yellow one. Aweek ago I’d have been horrified; nowi’m rather pleased. I’ll get kudos from the neighbours for planting another native and it’ll add a different dimension to our (mostly) yellow garden project.
The yellow pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa ‘Aurea’) has a short trunk and wide, spreading branches. It’s naturally occurring in coastal areas of the northern half of the North Island, having descended from a pair of trees of Motiti Island in the Bay of Plenty. It hasnow been planted inmany parts ofnewzealand. It’s apparently easy to grow, and hardy, and its nectar will attract birds and bees in January.
Wealready have one of these, but another one will not go astray. It’s Viburnum odoratissimum, a fast-growing large shrub with a dense, rounded form. It has deliciously scentedwhite, starshaped flowers and it’s supposed to be semi-deciduous, although ours has always been evergreen. I think it’ll be a nice, dense gap filler amongst the taller trees.
Aesculus indica, also known as Indian Horse Chestnut, ticks lots of boxes for us, producing white flowers in summerthat are tinged yellow. Two birds with one stone, then. It grows at a moderate rate up to about 4m, which is perfect, plus it’s cold hardy and thrives in moist, infertile soils.
Twotrees I found that I really, really wanted are Liriodendron tulipifera and Aesculus hippocastanum, but at25mand 15m, I don’t think I’ll be able to hide them in the back row. The liriodendron would, I know, be able to completely overturnmyaversion to yellow. It’s very, very yellow. Not just the flowers, but also the leaves in autumn. It’s a fast-growing tree that forms a tall, pyramidal crown. The flowers are superb.
And nor will I be having the Aesculus hippocastanum, despite its incredible beauty. Commonly known as the Horse Chestnut, it’s a majestic tree with large leaves, big, creamy white flowers in spring and prickly oval conkers. It’ll grow to 15m, and I don’t think I’ll get away with that.