"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...

Why not gamble and find out.
My gut feling is that it wouldn't hurt them one little bit, as the roots
would compensate by growing into the garden beds.
Despite what is said, plants aren't suicidal, and can adept.

Thanks for the intelligent discussion! I'm going to take the gamble and
see what happens. I only wanted to grow a few annuals in the beds, just
for flowers indoors. Oh, and some dear old geraniums against the ugly
fence.

Kylie, I hear what you say about not liking casuarinas, but I do!

of course you do! i like them in their place, i should say. well, i don't
LIKE them (visually), but they belong there! i was just being an opinionated
cow :-)

The
sound the wind makes as it blows through their needles is so relaxing. The
sound made by cockies as they gobble up the nuts isn't quite so relaxing,
but I like it anyway. And if they drop their needles, oh well. Thing is,
my husband (*not* a gardener) fell in love with these trees and bought the
three on special. They're 'his' contribution to the garden, so - y'know -
I hope they survive. I'll let you know whichever way. All in the course of
furthering the collective knowledge, eh? ;-D

in light of everyone (at your house)'s strong preference for the casuarinas
over whatever might end up in the beds, you might as well go for it! i'm
pretty sure that the casuarinas won't suffer, so if you're not attached to
whatever you want to put in the beds, do it & see how it goes.

if you wanted veg or something in the beds, where they need care & it's an
emotional & water/nutritional investment, that would be different (&
probably not recommended).

mind you, if you follow our advice here & it all goes bung, you don't get to
whinge later, orright? g
kylie