See those five big Eucalyptus trees on the right hand side of this photo?
By the time you are reading this they will either be gone or almost gone. Supposedly. They are on the neighbors large lot and are dropping a lot of debris on my landlady’s other unit and she was afraid they might lose limbs and damage the house. So she went over and asked if they wouldn’t mind chopping them down and would you believe they said sure? I’m not sure I’ll believe it unless the sound of chainsaws wake me up.
On the one hand I hate when large trees are chopped down. They are habitat and food for all number of creatures and do provide a wind screen. They do not however provide a windscreen for me. At least not much of one. They are directly west of my house and the wind seems to come from the bay which is north west. And Eucalyptus are nightmarishly messy trees. I would never buy a property with one on it, never mind five. I actually don’t really want any large trees on a small suburban lot except for the ones I put there or possibly something well behaved with no surface roots and not too much litter. And on the north side of the property so it doesn’t cast a shadow on the entire yard. One of the things I loved about this lot is that there are no huge trees on it.
Anyway I have no say in whether they stay or go. I’m just surprised it is going to happen as it will cost a fortune. It will be interesting to see how the space looks and feels with them gone. At least I won’t have their leaves blowing into the garden anymore.
I have 2 Camphor Trees that can rival any Eucalyptus when it gets down to debris. I also have a mature Live Oak hanging over my entire home. I also have numerous other mature trees. I would never consider cutting them down.
Well like I said I don’t have a say in this situation. But I don’t really have a problem with the removal of messy or dangerous exotic trees. For myself my preference would be to buy a property without any existing problem trees.
But Entire Leaves, I’m 52 yrs. old. Trees, for the most part, are very long term investments.
I have pictures of trees planted 30 yrs. ago. I am planting now the Tabula Rasa Arboretum, and I do not expect to see the Taxodium distichum or Cercis canadenis mature.
So I guess it depends on the homeowner…chop chop…off with their heads…
My gardening experiences have never come down to your experiences…
I say no.
OK.
These eucalyptus litter so much of California, much like Pampas Grass has also become invasive. Just because it is growing and established doesn’t mean it shouldn‘t be eradicated. I wouldn’t buy near trees like these either.
I hate Pampas grass even more than Eucalyptus. And a fully grown Pampas is probably almost as difficult to remove!
Our home had mature eucalyptus trees in the front yard when we moved here in 1975. We had the home built so were happy that we had mature trees. Our property backs up to a 17 acre nature area of mostly eucalyptus tress. OMG, what a mess. So we struggled with trying to grow grass. As my husband was no fan of maintaining a lawn, I told him to let me take over, remove the grass and plant a natural style garden. I tried to find plants that would co-exist with the eucs. like a ring of Australian blue bell creeper. Then two years later in 1995, a huge storm hit Sacramento and in one day over 300 trees fell including one of our massive eucs. Fortunately the tree fell across the road and no one was injured. We had the rest of the stand of trees removed and it was then that I converted my garden from mostly shrubs to mostly perennials. And all I can say is that all of the garden was rejoicing in their new found enviornment and saying, “free at last, free at last.”. So I shed no tears at a euc being cut down. They do serve a purpose though – in the nature area they serve as a nurse tree for young oaks to grow and as the years go by, the dead or deceased eucs are removed and the oaks really take off. On the plus side, euc wood makes the best firewood.
I never saw what the fuss was with Eucalyptus because as a general rule I think they are pretty trees (when seen from a distance) but as I explore more of California I see now big natural areas where they have taken over and am less impressed by them.
The eucs are a pretty tree and I love walking in the grove behind our house after a rain. They just aren’t good or safe for a small yard.
There was a grove of them at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden that would creak as their branches rubbed against each other on windy days. It was so creepy. It was like they were haunted.