Monday, August 29, 2011

Mighty Eucalyptus from little seeds grow


Nearly 20 years ago I bought a packet of seeds from the supermarket; they were Eucalyptus seeds. It seemed ambitious growing a Eucalyptus tree from a tiny seed, I couldn’t afford a baby tree, so I thought I’d give it a go. At first I put the seeds into small pots they I transferred them into bigger posts and later when they were even bigger planted three of them in the garden.


During the first year I didn’t think that they were growing. I started to measure them once a week – and they were!. They all grew for a couple more years until they were coming along nicely. Especially the one which reminded me of a graceful lady in long skirts. In the mid nineties we had a very cold winter. I knew that the trees could withstand up to -15°C, so I wasn’t too worried. Unfortunately, the end of the winter was very windy and all three of my trees looked as if they had died. The graceful lady in long skirts had been the largest and closest to the street so needed cutting down because as the tree rotted the branches would become dangerous.


One of my kind neighbours said that he would cut the tree down, another would cut up the wood and take it away to use (we didn’t have a fire place). When the tree was cut down we discovered a small shoot which looked alive, so we decided to leave it and see what happened.



The small shoot grew from strength to strength and soon became a big tree, much bigger than we imagined it would ever become. This time the tree was definitely male, strong and straight.

These pictures were all taken this spring




12 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Anji,
I am a new Follower of your Blog. These trees are huge! I live on a farm and we have a lot of trees around. It is really amazing the huge trees that come from small seeds. Take care and have a good week.
Judy from Jamaica

Anji said...

Judy: Thank you for your comment. I was amazed that I got the tree to grow at all - twice!

I've been reading your blog too on ExposeYourBlog!

Cherelynn said...

Crazy amazing! Gorgeous! Keep it up green thumb! I love gardening and growing things! Great post too!

Cherelynn said...

Hey Anji! I am having trouble posting in Blogger too! Don at EYB put a note up on the forum for me-are you still having trouble? :)

Anji said...

Cherelynn, thanks for the compliment.

I was testing because I read about your problem. Up to now I've been okay to post. Hope you sort it out soon

Elisa said...

I LOVE eucalyptus trees. We used to live in Monterey, CA where the street was ligned with them and the smell was wonderful.

Anji said...

Elisa: A street lined with eucalyptus trees, that must have been special!

Anonymous said...

Amazing! You just never really know what Mother Nature has in store for us. Beautiful.

Anji said...

Shelley: Mother Nature never runs out of surprises if we look for them

A Lady's Life said...

That is a wonderful story. A tree lover myself I like to plant seeds too and watch them grow.
Eucalyptus is fine to grow as it is a medicinal plant. Now you need a little Koala to sit up there.lol

Anji said...

A lady's life: I'm over a year late answering your comment, I'm sorry. Yes, a Koala bear woould be a nice addition and he'd certainly have plenty to eat.

Anji said...

Epilogue; We sold the house and the new owner had to cut the tree down as the roots were causing damage to foundations etc. She was quite upset about having to cut down the tree. I have my pictures!