Wave the Sails

I've always wanted a palm tree in the garden ( ) but after having bought a lovely one and planted it up, after three months it's looking decidedly 'brown'.

Can anyone suggest:

a) a way of rescuing it or;

b) something much more hardy (about 6-8 ft max) that can cope with the wind and the sun?

Cheers all

MrsDagboy

Absolutely positively nothing like a palm tree, but what about Westringia (Coastal Rosemary)? Very very tough & likes sandy, hot, windblown & salty environments .

welshpom

Ask your local landcare or coastcare group. They'll be able to tell you what local trees and plants belong there.

http://www.landcareonline.com/

vandiemen

Hi,

When we get out to Perth I have always liked the look of the jacarandas which grow well in Perth and also the Norfolk Pines like you see on beach fronts such as Cottesloe.

Hope this helps

Van

walla

The most important factor for a healthy palm tree is good soil. The type of soil determines how much nutrients and water the plant receives.

Larissa

Good idea, they are both lovely trees. BTW Palms are very water greedy and as a result your other plants may suffer. Plus with palms they can look unslightly if you don't trim them regularly, and the cockies love them. We took some out of the garden (it was very overgrown) and just have one token palm tree left.
If you're going to try a palm again, mix loads of those water retaining crystals into the hole. You can buy a small jar and when they are hydrated they swell up loads.

Larissa

Hi
Just back from some searching for native trees (I'm thinking of planting one in an empty spot myself) and found this site with good pics (has helped me to identify what I have already) http://members.iinet.net.au/~westps/...a/waflora.html
and here is a link which identifies which trees are suitable for different locations (Muchea is North East of Perth, out along Neaves Road) http://www.mucheatreefarm.com.au/perth_native.cfm
I love my bottlebrush, the black cockatoos do too, we have a bell fruited Mallee which looks great now, although I was tempted to cut it down before as it looks a bit sparse before flowering. Illawarra flame trees are pretty but get quite big, grevillas and geraldton wax are very pretty, I'd avoid a gum tree as they get huge and shed limbs easily.
Maybe try looking in the nurseries, there are some good ones in Lansdale.

YFitz

Thanks for that link Larissa. It's really useful. I recognise nearly all the trees in the pics bit didn't know what many of them were called. We are currently trying to lose the rose bushes and such in our garden and replace them with natives so this will come in handy Hope the baby-growing is going well
Cheers
Yvonne

Wave the Sails

Fantastic thanks for all that info. Think I had heard of Muchea Nursery before so will go visit.

Excellent!

welshpom

Don't overlook the fact that there's "native to Australia", "native to a particular state" and "native to the area". If you can, it's best to choose the latter. Introducing non-local "natives" can cause problems e.g. they might compete out a locally native plant.