New street tree for the Princes Highway at Tempe (click to enlarge)
I was happy to see that Marrickville Council has planted a new street tree outside the petrol station on the Princes Highway Tempe. I think it is a Blueberry ash (Elaecocarpus reticulates).
The Blueberry ash is a columnar shaped Australian native tree that grows to between 4-8 metres tall, but is unlikely to reach this height in these growing conditions. It has dense blue-green foliage, red new growth & produces masses of pale pink flowers over spring/summer. The flowers have an aniseed fragrance. It produces blue berries over winter that can remain on the tree for many months. It is bird-attracting & they like both the flowers & the berries. Cockatoos & Lorikeets especially love the berries.
The tree is planted outside the petrol station. The owners of the petrol station have gone to the trouble of landscaping the site with a range of Australian native bird-attracting plants, which is very nice to see. I imagine they will appreciate this street tree.
Low Grevilleas planted at the entrance to the petrol station. It would be nice if Council used these on traffic islands instead of Nandina that offers nothing for wildlife
4 comments
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August 11, 2011 at 8:23 pm
brenda
I like the tree and it will be stunning when it flowers. Well done Marrickville
August 7, 2012 at 10:49 am
Denis Chan
I wonder if that will be sustainable with proximity to the airport and the high traffic along the highway. It attracts birds and might cause a problem for passing traffic.
August 7, 2012 at 9:41 pm
Saving Our Trees
Hi Denis. Thank you for your comment. I understand your concern. Just across the bridge over the Cooks River & still on the Princes Highway are a number of huge Fig trees. There are street trees planted all along the high traffic entrance roads surrounding the airport. Parramatta Road is lined with street trees once you enter the City of Sydney Council area. The Pacific Highway on Sydney’s North Shore is lined with tall street trees. It is up to the Councils whether they choose to plant street trees in available & appropriate spaces along main roads. Birds are not a problem. They know to fly above the traffic.
The presence of street trees along main roads has been shown to have a huge impact on the health of people living & working in the area. I wrote about this issue here if you are interested – http://savingourtrees.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/living-close-to-a-main-road-is-bad-for-your-health/
I also made a short video showing the profound difference between the leafy Pacific Highway & the almost treeless Princes Highway in Sydney. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvcAiKkVEJ4&feature=plcp
August 7, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Kristina
I think it’s fantastic that this tree has been planted on such a main busy road/highway. And great that the service station has landscaped with natives.
Perhaps the health of this tree would have a better chance if quite a few more were planted along this strip. It wouldn’t have to work as hard to deal with all the pollution!