RE: Eucalyptus Questions
Karl
At a course on propagating Australian natives that I took many years ago,
we were told that some eucalypts do produce growth inhibiting materials to
prevent seedlings crowding out the parent trees.
With eucalypts (various, most notably red stringybarks, don't know the
botanical names off the top of my head) the only mature trees in my garden,
I have a wide variety of bulbs and perennials growing, and thriving in
their shade - daphnes (several different), hellebores (niger, orientalis,
sternii), fritillaria meleagris, foxgloves, lilliums, geraniums,
rhododendrons, viburnum burkwoodii, hydrangeas, polemonium, meconopsis
cambrica, erythroniums etc), and I don't provide vast quantities of water
(which I don't have, anyway). The eucalypt leaves provide a good, long
lasting mulch, but I do also use some lucerne mulch.
I've never bothered to collect eucalypt leaves to compost.
Shelley
Shelley Harvey
New England Tablelands
Northern New South Wales
Australia
