Jonno wrote:

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
I have three young casuarinas near my fence line. I'm thinking of
adding more garden beds along there, but that would entail piling
about 40cm more soil on top of the casuarina roots to build up the
beds. My husband reckons this will kill them. Since the trees are now
about fifteen feet tall and doing well, I'd rather not do that. But I
want my garden beds too!

Any ideas? Solutions? Comments?

my first thought is that if they're the kind of casuarina that grow
incredibly tall, always look awful, drop seeds everywhere for people
to skid on & break their necks, drop needles constantly & defend their
root zone, what on earth do you want 3 of them in your yard for,
anyway? g

my second thought is that the trees are far more likely to ruin the
beds than the beds are to ruin the casuarinas. unless (or indeed, even
if) the entire root zone is buried, i imagine it's not a problem for
the vast majority of established trees. if most of the root zone would
be covered, think twice. to keep roots out of raised beds you probably
want a proper barrier at ground level.

mainly, i wouldn't do it because i can't see it working, with one
thing & another - if you can't choose between the trees & the beds,
nature will probably do it for you. although, you've probably gathered
that i don't think casuarinas are a good idea for backyard trees
anyway. (i'd chop them down now while they're still small ;-)

having said all that, i read recently (and i can't remember where!)
that longstem planting is surprisingly effective for more trees than
you would think, & i imagine being water-loving river trees that
casuarinas would adapt perfectly well to finding themselves buried
more deeply than usual - they would most likely just begin sending
roots out from higher up. an example of a tree that will never prosper
buried deeper, are those with grafts. a hardy native tree should be
ok. but as i said, i'm not convinced the beds would prosper. they
might be ok, though. if the beds are for a few sturdy perennials,
perhaps no problem. if they're for veg, i'd say do it elsewhere & give
the veg a better chance.
kylie
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! 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

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

"Trish Brown" wrote in message

Kylie, I hear what you say about not liking casuarinas, but I do! The
sound the wind makes as it blows through their needles is so relaxing.

:-)) I too love that sound, but then I also agree with Otterbot about the
looks of casuarinas - not a favourite in terms of good looks TMWOT. But,
having said that, I also hate the look of Pinus radiata but they certainly
do have their uses.

"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

0tterbot wrote:

snip

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


ROTFLMAO!!! I reserve the right to my whinge anyway. A body always feels
better after a bijou whingette!

Just an update on me embryonic garden:

I've discovered ebay! Did you know you can buy seeds and cuttings and
even plants on ebay? I've got an entire collection of violets (I do love
violets!) from there at an average cost of about five dollars each. It
always works out cheaper if you buy multiple items from one seller, as
combining postage is well worth it. Probably the most unusual thing I've
bought is a perfectly gorgeous purple-leaved hoya, about 60cm tall and
packed ingeniously in cardboard and bubble-wrap.

The violets came variously in polystyrene cups and gladwrap over wet
paper towel, but all are thriving and just today I was able to divide
some of them for the first time. I have nine varieties now!

Orchids also lend themselves to ebay shopping, since they only need some
damp medium to kick on for a few days. Most sellers post on Mondays to
enable the quickest possible delivery and prevent things having to
weekend in a stuffy post office. All in all, my experiences have been
great so far.

Of the funny items I've seen for sale in the gardening section, the best
has been the plethora of mature Cocos and Alexandra palms for sale. The
vast majority of these have been from private sellers who were silly
enough to plant their indoor palm outdoors and then got a surprise when
it grew up. LOL!

Prices vary from 'Free to anyone who will come and remove' to
(Hnyahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Pardon my guffaw!) $1,000 starting bid
for a ten-year-old specimen. IMHO, you would need to pay the buyer to
remove the blessed things, rather than try to fob one off on some poor
unsuspecting bloke for money.

Anyway, if you haven't checked out ebay for plants, do! It's fun just
browsing what's available, even if you don't want to buy.

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia