Last Week In My Garden #5

Tree Felling

Last Tuesday a team of three guys from Tallow Tree Services from Byron Bay came to deal with a few jobs felling trees on the property. I had four companies come out and quote me and these guys impressed me from the beginning and their price was second cheapest.

Alexander Palms

It's no secret that I am not fond of palm trees. These  Alexander palms and are indigenous to the local area and are therefore not a listed weed. We have more than 80 on the property but 16 of them were in close proximity to the house.

However their trunks and bowls had grown too large to be so close to the front of the house. They also drop very heavy palm fronds. One narrowly missed my son on his bike. They had to go.

The Tallow boys had an efficient way of tensioning the top of the palm and dropping it away from the house. Then their mulcher dragged it into its jaws.

Canary Island Date Palm

This miniature palm was very pretty but sported some nasty spikes. See earlier posting on my injury.

Jacaranda

It's hard to see in this photo but this tree had taken some battering in the January storms. One large branch was stuck hanging over the driveway.

Jamie prussiked up the tree and removed it and a few other dead branches.

Swamp Gum
I love this tree. So huge and beautiful. But very dangerous. It is right on the fenceline that has a new estate on the other side. 

Can you see all the dead limbs hung up on the live branches? There were at least three. All there when we bought the property in December 2012. They needed to come down safely.

Then there were a couple of limbs that over hung into the next property. I would not buy a block of land that had a gum tree overhanging it. It's a matter of safety. Gum drop limbs. They can kill.

Mulching

The guys bought a great machine that turned all the palms and gums into mulch to use on the garden. I now have tonnes of the stuff.

I hope to work with this company once a year to clear the risky trees and maintain the existing trees.