Hi there,

Its Autumn here in Melbourne, Australia. I have a row of conifer pine
trees - medium size - dark green leaves. They are about 6 metres tall and
are due for a good prune back.

I believe they are called Castlewellan Gold.

They don't have seeds, drop many leaves but they do grow.

Here's a link to a photo.
http://www.ballarat.net/avalon/cypress.htm

I thought of lopping off the top of the trees- mulching them including the
leaves finely - and then using them as mulch for my rose garden. I'm
allergic to the pine leaves so I'm getting tree pruner to do the job.

One old grizzled tree pruner however warned me that using fresh conifer pine
mulch was a very bad idea and will kill the roses or any other plant.

Is using conifer mulch for the rose garden a bad idea? I didn't realize it
was toxic.