Sometimes a much loved tree just has to go. Our old  double trunk gum was much too close to the house. It was a definite fire-hazard, and also there were signs of white-ant activity.

The tragedy was that many of our birds were fond of it too. One dead limb was a regular  perch for a pair of kookaburras at dawn and dusk.

Kookaburra couple in gum tree

Kooka couple

Yellow robins liked to  perch on the trunk with their funny sideways stance, keeping an eye out for anything tasty in the rose garden below.   The tree creeper would climb up and down searching for food  in the bark

Eastern yellow robin

A favourite perch for the Eastern yellow robin.

Tree creeper

Tree creeper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear me, it was awful watching  as the men started to remove the branches. At least they did their best to avoid damage to the garden.

 

Taking dwn a eucalypt.

And so it begins.

The  remaining trunk was chainsawed into ‘wheels’. They will be seasoned and used as firewood for our two stoves.  I can see my trusty splitter being put to good use. I might save a couple of blocks  to use as rustic  garden seats, or pot stands.

 

Eucalypt firewood

Warm fires  for us next winter. 

The thin branches were put through a giant chipper. It was very, very different to our own tiny machine.


Wood chipper in action.

 

My poor little lawn almost disappeared under the resulting pile of chips.

 

Pauline Conolly with eucalypt mulch

Quite a lot of tree here.

Eventually  the mulch was used on our woodland paths. Even my young associate Editor Des helped spread it.

Eucalypt mulch

Ready for the paths.

So now we were  left with the double stump. It could have been ground out, but we decided to keep it as a sort of memorial. Hmm, what to do with it?  I decided to dig out the  rotted centres and plant something in them. Editor Des showed  a lot of interest, but  was unable to offer a single sensible suggestion (no surprise there!).

 

Eucalypt trunk 'planter'.

What could we plant, Des?

In the end I decided to use some of the countless self seeded maples we have, to create little bonsai gardens.

 

Maple grove bonsai

Maple grove and stone  cottage,

 

Tree stump bonsai garden

Tree stump bonsai garden. Do you like the twisted trunks?

I just need some miniature figures to bring the gardens to life.

Garden art - maple tree bonsai

Just for fun…

There was a final, rather  strange gift from nature. In the sawdust behind the stump there  appeared a soft,  bright yellow mass. It was Fuligo septicai, commonly known as Scrambled Egg fungus or, wait for it….Dog’s Vomit. I don’t think I’ll be eating it on toast.

Fuligo septicai

How very odd.

Farewell dear old eucalypt. You will be living on here in various forms for many a day.

UPDATE – you  cannot  keep a gum tree down!

A couple of months later, and just look at that brave regrowth on the left of the photo.  It’s refusing to let a maple usurp it.

Gum tree reshooting

 

 

 

 

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