I've been jealoousy reading recently about folks in southern states going on digging trips to collect all manner of bonsai desirable feral trees. That got me thinking about what we have here in SE Qld and the obvious answer is Celtis. Celtis Sinensis make fantastic bonsai here; they grow quickly, ramify well and the leaves will reduce down to a very small size. Just search for 'celtis bonsai' to see the standard achievable.
With our climate, some potted celtis will go through the deciduous cycle, producing a beautiful lemon yellow colour in the autumn. It is very unusual to see a celtis growing in the ground do so. They will do no more than take a short growing pause for winter.
The problem is that they like it here too much and have now been declared an environmental weed, despite the fact that in many parks and gardens there are some very fine mature landscape examples flourishing. The rules for environmental weeds are that they not be bought or sold. The seeds, spread by birds, germinate well in creek catchment and low lying damp areas, where they can crowd out the local flora.
As I've driven around the bayside lately I've been looking for the feral ones and have been surprised at just how many there are. In one place I noticed a couple growing up through the long grass on a footpath. The area had obviously had some maintenance a couple of years ago and these two celtis had been cut off close to the ground.
What could I do but my community duty in removing these dangerous invaders from the natural environment. So that's what I did, roots and all, and brought them home to start a new life where they will cause nothing but delight.
These two trees are in the first two shots following. You can see the cut off stumps and also the new growth going over the top of the cuts.
The first one was growing on a small sloped bank and so has a nice bit of movement already in the quite heavy trunk.
The second one has produced multiple regrowths - plenty to chose from once it recovers. I've put these two in poly boxes to grow on. This one is a natural for a forest group.
This recovery capacity demonstrates the value in having a two stage collection process. Stage one is to cut the top off in situ and make the most of a strong root structure to drive vegetative recovery and then come along some time (2 years perhaps) later and disturb the roots; if they are still there!
I had found another site nearby that was weed heaven, full of celtis, ochna, lantana and asparagus vine; just amazing. There were two that I decided to take out entirely and many more that I just cut the top off for 'later'. The collected ones are back home now planted in the ground ready for spring.
This one was a twin with the main tree about 6m tall and trunk at the cut about 100mm in diameter.
The second was a fused clump, obviously a group of seeds in one bird dropping, with 5 trunks, and an elongated 'footprint'.
Both of these were growing in damp soil in an area prone to a bit of acid sulphate conditions and so the trees confined themselves to mostly surface roots. This made them comparatively easy to dig out and fostered the development of nice nebari already. All the trees I dug had good fibrous roots near the trunk and so have a good chance of recovery. I'm looking forward to seeing some shoots pretty soon.
With our climate, some potted celtis will go through the deciduous cycle, producing a beautiful lemon yellow colour in the autumn. It is very unusual to see a celtis growing in the ground do so. They will do no more than take a short growing pause for winter.
The problem is that they like it here too much and have now been declared an environmental weed, despite the fact that in many parks and gardens there are some very fine mature landscape examples flourishing. The rules for environmental weeds are that they not be bought or sold. The seeds, spread by birds, germinate well in creek catchment and low lying damp areas, where they can crowd out the local flora.
As I've driven around the bayside lately I've been looking for the feral ones and have been surprised at just how many there are. In one place I noticed a couple growing up through the long grass on a footpath. The area had obviously had some maintenance a couple of years ago and these two celtis had been cut off close to the ground.
What could I do but my community duty in removing these dangerous invaders from the natural environment. So that's what I did, roots and all, and brought them home to start a new life where they will cause nothing but delight.
These two trees are in the first two shots following. You can see the cut off stumps and also the new growth going over the top of the cuts.
The first one was growing on a small sloped bank and so has a nice bit of movement already in the quite heavy trunk.
The second one has produced multiple regrowths - plenty to chose from once it recovers. I've put these two in poly boxes to grow on. This one is a natural for a forest group.
This recovery capacity demonstrates the value in having a two stage collection process. Stage one is to cut the top off in situ and make the most of a strong root structure to drive vegetative recovery and then come along some time (2 years perhaps) later and disturb the roots; if they are still there!
I had found another site nearby that was weed heaven, full of celtis, ochna, lantana and asparagus vine; just amazing. There were two that I decided to take out entirely and many more that I just cut the top off for 'later'. The collected ones are back home now planted in the ground ready for spring.
This one was a twin with the main tree about 6m tall and trunk at the cut about 100mm in diameter.
The second was a fused clump, obviously a group of seeds in one bird dropping, with 5 trunks, and an elongated 'footprint'.
Both of these were growing in damp soil in an area prone to a bit of acid sulphate conditions and so the trees confined themselves to mostly surface roots. This made them comparatively easy to dig out and fostered the development of nice nebari already. All the trees I dug had good fibrous roots near the trunk and so have a good chance of recovery. I'm looking forward to seeing some shoots pretty soon.
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