Cutting back the Oles… Again – 4th May 2018

As you may know, our place is extensively planted with Oleander trees.  A left over from previous owners.

Part of our long-term plan is to remove all of the Oleanders(Oles – ol-ees) over time.

So today we harshly cut back some more of the Oleanders on the South Path and planted more of our replacement trees – Waterhousea floribunda – also known as the “Weeping Lilli Pilli”

We have already planted many of these along the South Path upper side, so this is a continuation of that plan

Due to the steepness of the bank we use a ladder to access the upper side of the path.  That is just one of the way we deal with the steep areas of our place.

The Oleanders were cut back to about to about 20-50 cms and will be allowed to re-shoot.  There are a very important part of erosion control at the moment and hold the bank together very well.  We will remove them completely as time goes on.

With the Oles cut back we had lots of room for planting Waterhouseas.  We have planted them in close proximity to each other as this is not an ideal position for them and they will probably grow quite slowly.

You will see the odd Frangipani tree here on the bank.  They are the other extensively planted non-native tree on the property and are also “for the chop” over time.  but like the Oles we are leaving them in place now for erosion control.

By the end of the day we had planted about 10 Waterhouseas and removed the majority of the Oleander foliage.

Now we wait for rain and growth 🙂