Freeway Forests

[gavoodi]

Eucalyptus are invasive, can use up lots of water, and are a huge fire hazard because of their oily leaves. Was a big mistake to introduce them to California, their wood was crappy and they made the fire danger much worse. Would be a mistake to let them get out of control here, but unscrupulous nurseries only care about making a quick buck.

The story I got when I bought the trees at the nursery near Surfside was they were originally brought over to Texas to try and clear up contaminated groundwater. I think they planted a lot of these at a Dow Chemical plant or some such contaminated place. They drink a lot of water. I don't know as I would go so far as calling the nursery "unscrupulous". The guy there was pretty up front about them. I think there is only one nursery that sells them.

They are calling it a Galveston Eucalyptus. The draw backs about them are that the bark and leaves they shed have no biological enemies therefore the leaves & bark need to be raked. Txdot was looking for plant and forget type trees so I think the Eucalyptus may be up in the air for future plantings.

Other drawbacks that the nursery guy said was the fire part and that the trees produce a small fruit in the summer which could clog possibly stick on birds beaks. He said you also don't want to plant one right next to the foundation of your house. He touched on the invasive aspect too and said that all the trees he sells are sterile.

They are really cool looking trees though and fast growing.

[XLR8]

The story I got when I bought the trees at the nursery near Surfside was they were originally brought over to Texas to try and clear up contaminated groundwater. I think they planted a lot of these at a Dow Chemical plant or some such contaminated place. They drink a lot of water. I don't know as I would go so far as calling the nursery "unscrupulous". The guy there was pretty up front about them. I think there is only one nursery that sells them.

They are calling it a Galveston Eucalyptus. The draw backs about them are that the bark and leaves they shed have no biological enemies therefore the leaves & bark need to be raked. Txdot was looking for plant and forget type trees so I think the Eucalyptus may be up in the air for future plantings.

Other drawbacks that the nursery guy said was the fire part and that the trees produce a small fruit in the summer which could clog possibly stick on birds beaks. He said you also don't want to plant one right next to the foundation of your house. He touched on the invasive aspect too and said that all the trees he sells are sterile.

They are really cool looking trees though and fast growing.

This is where I pause for a second and take a deep breath and wonder if it was a good idea to bring these trees to Texas. I can see headlines in a 100 years. Supposedly sterile highly flamible 200 foot tall bird killing trees that have taken over the Texas Gulf Coast replacing the tallows are now on fire threating the city.

[texas911]

The Tall growing trees under BW8 and 59South are ugly and unkept. If TXDOT wanted a plant and forget type landscaping, they should have had planted pines in big clumps.

[plumber2]

Can they plant a tree that will kill the "fire ants"?

[Vertigo58]

Can they plant a tree that will kill the "fire ants"?

As much as I love these palms, beware. Ants love to make a high rise condo out of them. The center/top where rains cascades down provides the perfect ingredients for ant heaven. Then there are the dates or fruit it produces once matured. Looks beautiful from a distance but once they drop become a slimy mess and attract millions of flies. Your neighbors will loath you for it. So unless you enjoy scooping them up. I would think twice about these. I have about 10 lining my lot. Looks tropical but will be quite hellish soon.

PS, most of the Mex palms they planted along 45/Fuqua have been crashed into by wreckless drivers.