“A little bit of research and starting small can win the race.”
THE demand for an instant garden means there is often little tolerance for planting young trees, but in our experience trees that are planted when they are small – even tube stock – grow to be more robust, sound plants.
Studies show that planting small trees has no disadvantages compared to planting larger trees. The smaller trees catch up quickly, undergo less transplant shock, establish better and cost far less. It’s not instant but, gardening is a process after all. Many indigenous nurseries are now committed to selling their trees as 5-7cm tubestock because they do better once they are transplanted into a garden, including the nursery run by the Knox Environment Society, which has documented the growth of trees starting in a 30cm pot alongside ones starting in 5cm tubestock. The results are startling with the tubestock outperforming (and even surviving) their larger cousins (see here).
“The smaller trees catch up quickly, undergo less transplant shock, establish better and cost far less.”
If you know what tree you’re after and have just the right spot, it can be worth planting a few of the same trees in tube stock or small containers as back ups and, after a while, removing everything except the one you want to keep, particularly when trunk shape and colour can really vary, such as in Lemon-Scented Gum (Corymbia citriodora) and Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata).
Long inspired by the scent of the tall Lemon-Scented Gums outside Melbourne University’s Baillieu Library, I once bought a small tree that grew to have the classic pale trunk and shape but strangely large leaves with no discernable citrus notes when they were crushed. By the time I learned that Corymbias easily cross pollinate, the tree was 4m high and I had fallen in love with it. If I had relied less on the nursery tag and done a bit more research early on by examining the gum nuts (unique to each eucalypt variety) and planted a few small back ups, I would have ended up with exactly what I wanted: the incomparable scent I remembered on hot drowsy summer afternoons laden with heavy library books.
A little bit of research and starting small can really win the race.