FROM BUSH TO BACKYARD

Eucalypts are notoriously difficult to transplant, so plant it where you expect it to remain.  And if you plant a eucalypt in a small pot intending later to transfer it to a bigger pot, just don’t!  Put it into the bigger pot to start with.

 

While on a visit to Taggerty, a bit over 100 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, I dug a small eucalypt sapling from the bush and brought it back to our suburban back yard in Bonnyview Street, Burwood.  I had no knowledge of its species or its likely form should it survive, but prudently planted it at the rear of the block, well away from the house.

 

The tree survived.  It is - I now know - a manna gum (eucalyptus viminalis).  This species is widespread through south-eastern mainland Australia, and Tasmania.  Its leaves are famed as the preferred snack food of the koala.  

 

We lived at our Burwood address from early 1970 to early 1976, and my guess is that the manna gum heist and re-location occurred in 1974.  We never saw the tree reach maturity, or any substantial size.  Over the past 50 years it has thrived; and not only is its size now prodigious, but its form is uniform and majestic.

 

I have not been bold enough to knock on the door of the present owners, to tell my story, and to ask permission to photograph the tree; likewise, with the occupants of the abutting property in the rear street.  I’m fearful that the present generation might not see the tree as I do, and might wish to exact vengeance on the old goat who inflicted such a monumental litter shedder, and such potential danger, on to a suburban environment.  So, my present-day photographs are taken from afar and do not capture the tree’s immensity.

 

The first view is at an angle from across Bonnyview Street a few doors up.  

The second view is from Barbara Avenue, the street behind.

I have been unable to find consistent predictions of the size of fully mature manna gums.  Clearly, environment and habitat are determinants, but sources vary in their suggestions as to likely maximum height – 30, 40 or 50 metres.  I reckon my tree will give them all a go – if it hasn’t already.  And as a photographic image it outclasses any “specimen” photo I’ve been able to source.

 

Gary Andrews